Dr. Banarsi Lal
As entrepreneurs, workers and custodian of traditional knowledge, the traditional knowledge, the contribution of rural women are unique especially in the context of agriculture, natural resource management and forestry. Women farmers play the multidimensional role in agriculture. They play a significant role in agriculture from sowing to harvesting to post-harvest management. They make significant contributions to agricultural production, food security and nutrition, land and natural resources management and building climate resilience. Government of India is giving preference to rural women under various schemes. Although remarkable progress has been made in India in various sectors but still the gender inequalities remain pervasive in every dimension of sustainable development. Economic Survey 2017-18 says that with growing rural to urban migration by men, there is feminization in agriculture sector, with increasing number of women in multiple roles such as cultivators, labourers etc. Women comprise about 43 per cent of world’s agricultural force which rises to 70-80 per cent in some countries such as India. Farm women in India are enhancing agricultural production, improving food security and eradicating poverty. The Indian rural women face the significance inequality in farms even they do more agricultural work than men. According to FAO report, if women are given equal access to resources as men, agricultural yield can be increased by 2.5 to 4 per cent in the developed countries enough to feed at least 100 million more undernourished people. If rural women get opportunities and facilities, they can propel the country towards second green revolution and can change the landscape of the development. They play a significant role in labour supervision and participation in post-harvest operations. Women farmers can be productive and enterprising as their male counterparts but are less able to access land, credit, agricultural inputs, markets and high value agrifood chains. Farm women lack equal access to productive resources and assets, public services such as education , health care and infrastructure including sanitation while much of their labour remains invisible and unpaid even as their workload increases due to migration of their men. It has been observed that rural women face more difficulties than the rural men and urban women. They disproportionately experience poverty, exclusion and inverse effect of climate change.
Rural women produce more than one-half of the world’s food. They are the primary caregivers to the families in many societies and key to ensuring food and nutritional security. Women’s economic empowerment can reduce the poverty for everyone. They play an important role in the rural economy as the farmers, wage earners and entrepreneurs. They are considered as the vital part of the Indian economy. Women farmers contribute enormously to the Indian agriculture. Women comprise the largest percentage of the workforce in the agricultural sector but they do not have control over all the land and productive resources. Strenuous efforts are needed to bring a positive change in knowledge, attitude and skills of the women farmers by providing training and technical advice and also assisting them in taking decisions in adoption of new technologies. Generally women role in agriculture is systematically marginalized and underestimated. Many times women farmers are bypassed by male extension workers. It would be correct to state that women farmers in India have failed to get their due share in extension services apropos their contribution to the Indian agriculture. There is need to refine, modify and redesign the extension services in India so that the latest technologies can be reached to the women farmers effectively.
Government of India have launched various rural development programmes from community approach in 1950s’ to special target group approach in 1970s’.Many of these programmes addressed to the specific needs of women farmers and remain focussed 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 etc. were implemented. These approaches were not directed towards fulfillment needs for agriculture-related services and concentrated mainly on the issue of employment and social empowerment. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an 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, a provision for special training programmes for women have been made and more and more rural women are trained under these programmes.
Gender equality refers to the enjoyment of equal rights, opportunities and treatment by men and women and by boys and girls in all spheres of life. Promoting gender equality and women’s economic empowerment go hand and hand and both are important in ensuring that women enjoy their human rights and can play a role in contributing to inclusive and sustainable development. Women often face restrictive gender roles, unequal decision-making power and limited access to resources such as land and financing. Involvement of women in agricultural development process by the 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 not sufficient to make a substantial dent on the overall agricultural scenario of the country. 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. There is need to sensitize the concerned extension workers, extension managers, development administrators and policy makers with the realities of farm women, so that they can be considered as an equally strong force for agricultural and rural development on the same footing as men. Attitudinal changes of extension workers, extension managers and all other concerned with agricultural development efforts cannot be ruled out in order to bring significant improvement in the women’s access to the recent agricultural technologies in India. Women farmers 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. The planners should give due reconisation to women farmers in designing the developmental and training programmes. There is also the need to recruit more female extension functionaries in all levels of agricultural extension system. Emphasis should be given on women Self Help Groups (SHGs) so that they can be connected with the micro-credit and start their micro-entrepreneurships at rural level. There is also need to develop new agricultural technologies so that drudgery reduction among the women can be made. More agricultural institutions should be developed for the rural women. There is need to promote the structural, functional and institutional measures to empower women farmers, to enhance their abilities and increase their access to the new agricultural technologies.
(The writer is Chief Scientist & Head of KVK, Reasi, SKUAST-J)
