Women Empowerment for Agricultural Development

Abstract

Agriculture is the main occupation in India giving employment to about 58 per cent of the people. The contribution of agriculture and allied sector in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country has reached about 14 per cent in 2011–2012. India being a fast-growing country, still remains as one of the country with farmers below poverty line in the world. It is prone to weather-related shocks and experiences high levels of food insecurity, particularly among rural populations and smallholder farmers. Women play a critical role in agricultural growth in India, but they face persistent obstacles and economic constraints limiting further inclusion in agriculture. In the over-all farm production chain, women's average contribution is estimated at 55–66 per cent of the total labor with percentages much higher in certain regions. Women- farmers, a quarter of the world's population, produce over 50 per cent of the world's food and share 43 per cent of the agricultural labour force. The women invest almost 10 times more of their earnings than man on the well-being of the family, including family health, child health, education and nutrition. Yet, they have less access than men to agricultural related assets, inputs and services. Women's empowerment is a socio-political concept that involves cognitive, psychological, economic and political dimensions. The women constitute almost half of the work force engaged in agriculture. The rural women participate in a broad range of agricultural activities such as production, processing preservation and utilization of food. They play a key role in the entire food system starting from the selection of seeds, sowing, manuring, drying, storing and feeding the family from the harvested product. Even though women contribute 60 to 80 per cent of the labor in agriculture and animal husbandry, their involvement in selection of suitable crops and adoption of innovative and good management practices, is very low. The major reasons may be the limited role of women in decision making in agricultural land production, gender discrimination in the land, lack of awareness about the new technologies in agriculture and the poor access to female extension professionals for consultation about their farm lands. Various aspects relating to women empowerment, role of women in innovation system and decision making, contribution of women towards household nutritional security and the way forward for actions to be taken on priority are suggested in this paper.