India is an agriculturally rich country, most of its population is engaged in agriculture-based activities. In most parts of the world, it has been observed that the total workforce engaged in agricultural activities mainly consists of males. As agriculture requires hard work and good physical strength and which makes the participation of women in agriculture a bit difficult. But that’s not the case with India, in India women also show equal participation in agricultural activities. After the independence, India observed great participation of women in agriculture, making women independent and generating an extra source of income for the family.
About 34% of women contribute as cultivators and approximately 40% as agricultural labor among the total workforce engaged in agricultural activities in India.
Factors Contributing to the Feminization of Agriculture in India:
- Poverty: Due to increasing inflation, many people are badly suffering from poverty in India. Thus Indian women are often found working in agricultural labor. This provides them with an additional income and provides work flexibility.
- High Labor Costs: Agriculture involves labor-based work and hiring labor for that specific work costs a lot to the farmers. Thus, in most parts of India, all family members including women are engaged in agriculture.
- Women Empowerment: The Government of India is promoting the involvement of women in every sector and thus the contribution of women has now increased in almost every sector including the agricultural sector.
- Government Policies: In recent years the GOI had adopted many policies that empowered the existing labor regulations, improved the salary structure for the laborers, and provided them with free health insurance.
Advantages of Feminization of Agriculture to the Indian Economy:
The economy of any country is mainly affected by its domestic production, and the domestic production depends upon the total workforce of that nation. So the nation with a higher workforce is likely to grow more rapidly when compared to the other nation with a lesser workforce. However, India already had a huge workforce but the contribution of women workers made it even stronger. The contribution of women in the total workforce of India kept on increasing i.e. from 14% in 1981 to 33% in 2011. At present in the agricultural sector, there are 4 women over every 6 men.
Due to an increase in the involvement of women in the agricultural sector the domestic product of India increased significantly that resulting in an improved economy. As the agricultural sector is the highest contributing sector to the Indian economy.
The feminization of agriculture helped many men to involve in other jobs while agriculture was headed by the women of each household. It created more employment opportunities and played a major role in ending the disguised unemployment in agriculture.
Government of India Initiatives to Promote Feminization of Agriculture in India:
The government of India is promoting the contribution of women in all sectors, especially in the agricultural sector, and thus launched some initiatives that helped in increasing women’s contribution to agriculture.
- Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP):
The Ministry of Rural Development launched the Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) in 2011 as the sub-component of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM). The main purpose of this scheme was to improve the status of women in agriculture and provide them equal opportunities and wages. Under this scheme, 60% of funding is being provided by the centre of the government of India for these projects while for the north-eastern states GOI provides 90% of funding. As per the data presented in the Loksabha on November 19th, 2019 total of 84 projects has been launched under this scheme across 24 states. More than 36 lakhs women benefices got benefited from this scheme.
- With the help of women’s Self-Help groups, GOI is trying to encourage more women to participate in small work that could earn an extra income for them. Also, their participation makes them independent and helps them uplift their social status.
- To encourage and appreciate the women’s participation and contribution in the agricultural sector, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare celebrates October, 15th every year as National women farmer’s day.
- To promote the involvement of women in every sector the GOI reserves 30% for the women beneficiaries under its ongoing or future coming policies and schemes.
Challenges faced by the Women Farmers in Agriculture:
Despite having a decent involvement of women in agriculture in India, they are still facing many challenges and some of them are discussed below.
- Lack of Ownership of Land: Even after contributing a lot to the Indian farms only 12.8% of women actually own agricultural land. The main reason behind not getting ownership is the hierarchy of transferring land. In India, the land is often transferred in the name of the son, after the death of his father. Even the complex procedure of the land registry process makes it difficult for women to own a farm in India.
- Lack of access to resources: Due to poor financial conditions and lack of access to technology in remote areas, women farmers need to carry out farm activities manually or with the help of farm pets. The lack of access to resources makes farming much more difficult for women and thus often results in a decrease in their involvement in agriculture.
- Lack of financial credit: In India still more than 32% of rural women don’t hold a bank account and it makes it quite difficult for them to take the financial credit that is quite necessary to buy essential agriproducts.
- Increased burden: Women farmers not only have to look after their farm but also need to look after their household activities like cooking, washing, etc. Thus these multiple works increase the burden on women farmers.