Feminization of Agriculture

WHY IN NEWS:

• A total 704 number of capacity building programmes for farm women were conducted by ICAR-Central Institute for Women in Agriculture on Home Science covering 31,626 farm women during 2015-20.

WHAT IS FEMINIZATION OF AGRICULTURE?

• The term ‘feminization of agriculture’ refers to increasing participation of women in agricultural activities
• It can be interpreted in the following ways:
  • An increase in the percentage of women who are economically active in agricultural sector either as self-employed or as agriculture wage workers or unremunerated family workers
  • An increase in the percentage of women in agricultural labour force relative to men, either because of more women are working or because of fewer men are working in agriculture.
• If in 1991, for every 10 men in the agricultural workforce, there were four women, then by 2011, there were six women for every 10 men >> This phenomenon of increased participation by women, particularly working as agri-labourers, is referred to as the process of feminization of agriculture in India
• Female operational holdings also increased to 14.0 percent in 2015-16 against and 12.8 percent in 2010-11 (as per Agriculture Census 2015-16)

STATISTICS

• According to the Food and Agriculture Organization >> women constitute a third of India’s agricultural labour force and contribute 55-66% to farm production.
• According to non-profit Oxfam>> around 80 percent of farm work in India – including sowing, winnowing, harvesting, and other labor-intensive processes and non-mechanized farm occupations – is undertaken by women
• Also, 85% of rural women in India are working in agriculture, yet only 13% of them own any land.
• According to NSSO Reports >> about 18% of the farm families in India are headed by women.
• According to Census 2011, there has been a 24% increase in the number of female agricultural labourers between 2001 and 2011.

REASONS FOR FEMINIZATION OF AGRICULTURE

• Rural to urban migration of male members:
  • According to the Economic Survey 2017-18 >> a rise in migration of men from rural to urban areas has resulted in feminization of agriculture.
• Cheap and easily available agriculture labour:
  • Women are more willing to accept low-paid irregular work, are easy to hire and fire, are thought to be docile and hardworking, and certain jobs are typified as women’s work such as picking tea.
• Poverty:
  • Poverty is a major factor due to which women are women are forced to work as agricultural labourers to supplement the family’s income.
  • Women also work as unremunerated workers in family fields.
• Agrarian distress:
  • It has led to a shift of male members to non-farm activities and pushed female members to perform agricultural and allied activities.
  • A recent study suggests that, between 2001 and 2011, a total of 7.7 million farmers left agriculture
• Skewed mechanization
  • With increased mechanisation of agriculture, men have moved to other non-farm activities
  • At the same time mechanization is very less in those agricultural works that are traditionally confined to women >> such as winnowing, harvesting, sowing seeds and rearing livestock >> women remains in the sector
• Barrier to upward mobility:
  • The upward mobility of women for employment is restricted and is further constrained by gender wage differentials.
  • As per 2011 Census >> about 33.7% of rural males migrate for reasons of employment and better economic opportunities.
  • However, in the case of rural females, it is as low as 3.6%

CHALLENGES FACED BY WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE SECTOR

• Increased work burden:
  • Women have to face the dual burden of working in the fields, as well as cooking and rearing children at home.
• Wage gap:
  • Women in general are offered lower wages for agriculture labour, especially in informal and private sector.
• Low representation in administrative bodies:
  • Women have no representation in agricultural marketing committees and other similar bodies.
• Low land and asset ownership:
  • Women involved in agriculture still lag behind in terms of land and asset ownership, even when acting as primary cultivators.
  • This is largely due to patriarchal social norms and limited awareness about their property rights.
  • As per India Human Development Survey (IHDS), 83% of agricultural land in the country is inherited by male members.
  • Also, 85% of rural women in India are working in agriculture, yet only 14% of them own any land.
• Unpaid work:
  • A lot of their labour goes unpaid, due to which they are not counted in the organised workforce, landowners etc.
• Not recognized by government policies:
  • The government fails to recognize women farmers and conveniently labels them as ‘cultivators’ or ‘agricultural labourers’ but not ‘farmers’.
  • Without any recognition, women are systematically excluded from all the benefits of government schemes.
• Barrier to credit access:
  • Land titles are often demanded as security for credit, basis for entitlement of agriculture-related schemes etc. >> hence lack of entitlement to land act as major impediment to women cultivators
• Lack of supportive infrastructure:
  • Technological interventions and infrastructural facilities in agriculture, in general, are not designed with women farmers in mind.
• Absence of decision-making power:
  • Enhanced responsibility has not translated into decision-making powers over important issues such crop selection, division of duties, marketing etc.
• Limited to drudgery work:
  • Mechanization of agriculture has resulted in confinement of women to labour intensive and menial roles such as winnowing, harvesting, sowing seeds and rearing livestock.
• Lack of awareness:
  • Women workers in agriculture suffer from high illiteracy rate and drop-out of schools and have little awareness about the existing s chemes, benefits, rights, etc.
  • As a result of this female population engaged in agriculture has poor economic as well social growth
• Feminization of poverty:
  • Women lack viable livelihood alternatives, and are forced to undertake farm activities that have been left by men due to agrarian distress.
  • According to scholars, feminization of agriculture in India is actually “feminization of agrarian distress” or can also be termed as “feminization of poverty”.
• Violence:
  • Violence and sexual harassment at workplace is a major issue faced by women agricultural labours and cultivators in India which mostly goes unreported.

INITIATIVES

• Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP)
  • It aims to empower women by enhancing their participation in agriculture and to create sustainable livelihood opportunities for them.
  • It is sub-component of DAY-NRLM (Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission
• National Policy for Farmers (2007):
  • The policy takes in to account the significant role played by women in agriculture sector and recommends for
    • Empowering women to access agriculture credit and other farm support services
    • Significant role to women as water users, both in access and management.
    • Documentation of traditional knowledge through community bio-diversity registers with the involvement of women, who hold much of this knowledge.
    • Community-managed seed villages and seed technology training centres are needed, with women playing the major role because of their traditional knowledge of seeds and seed management, especially in tribal communities
• Gender budgeting:
  • The guidelines of the various beneficiary oriented schemes of the Ministry of Agriculture provide that States and other Implementing Agencies to incur at least 30% expenditure on women farmers.
  • These schemes include National Food Security Mission, National Mission on Oilseed & Oil Palm, National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture, Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization, Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture etc.
• Women Farmer’s Day
  • Recognizing the critical role of women in agriculture, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has declared 15th October of every year as Women Farmer’s Day.
• Finance:
  • Micro finance institutions of NABARD provide collateral free aid to women farmers
• Skill training:
  • In order to familiarize women with the latest techniques in agriculture and allied sectors, trainings are being imparted to women farmers under schemes of Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Ministry of Rural Development.
• Focus on women self-help group (SHG)
  • Under Self-Employment Programme (SEP), interest subvention over and above 10 percent rate of interest is available to all women SHGs accessing bank loans.
  • DAY-NRLM envisages for organizing the rural poor women into Self Help Groups (SHGs) and continuously nurturing and supporting them to take economic activities
• Institutions:
  • ICAR-Central Institute for Women in Agriculture (ICAR-CIWA):
    • It is a first of its kind institution in India that is exclusively devoted to gender related research in agriculture
  • Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs)
    • As part of their activities, the KVKs impart training to farmers including women farmers on various aspects of agriculture and allied sectors.
    • The KVKs also organize women farmer specific training programmes on various topics like household food security by kitchen gardening and nutrition gardening, location specific drudgery reduction technologies etc.
• Equitable land ownership
  • Hindu Succession Act (2005) granted coparcenary rights to daughters and equal inheritance rights.
• National Women’s Policy (2016)
  • The policy has also recognised the importance of land rights for women.
• Sustainable Development Goals
  • SDG 5 (1), of the UN, to which India is a signatory, seeks to grant property rights and tenure security of agricultural land to women world over.

WAY FORWARD

• Gender sensitive agricultural research and education:
  • Agricultural education be made gender sensitive and research, development, extension and services be engendered to give due recognition to the multiple role played by women agriculturists
• Need for agriculture machinery designed for women
  • Manufacturers should be incentivised to produce tools and machineries suited to women’s needs.
• Promoting women SHGs:
  • Women Self Help Groups can be proactively engaged in value addition of farm produce at village level.
• Prioritizing women in accessing credit
  • Women need special attention in credit access because of their lack of land title/collateral.
  • Prioritizing women for accessing credits from banks and other financial institutions is needed.
  • Also ensure issuance of kisan credit cards to every women farmers
• Ensuring equal pay:
  • Legal measures should be strengthened to ensure equal pay for work of equal value.
  • Women should be made aware to help them negotiate equal wages and women organizations and unions can play an important role in this.
• Training:
  • There is an immediate need for training of rural women to help them adopt modern agricultural techniques that are tailored to local conditions and that use natural resources in a sustainable manner.
  • Krishi Vigyan Kendras in every district can be assigned an additional task to educate and train women farmers about innovative technology along with extension services.
• Support services for women empowerment:
  • For capacity building and livelihood, women working in the farms need appropriate support services like creches, child care centres, nutrition etc.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. ‘Despite their large contribution to the agricultural sector, women farmers have been reduced to a marginal section, vulnerable to exploitation’. Discuss?