Women in agriculture in Pakistan By Allah Dad Khan

2. Women in Agriculture
in Pakistan
By
Allah dad Khan
Former Director
General Agriculture
Extension KPK Pakistan

3. • Pakistan is a country with a great deal of diversity in
culture, traditions, habits, attitudes and practices
across its various provinces and regions, although there
are similarities as well. So when the broad term of
“Women in Agriculture” is used, it may not highlight
the extensive and diverse role that women have in
other provinces or regions. The role and
responsibilities of women change as the geographic
area changes, along with changing local customs and
traditions. Even the gender roles, food and nutrition
practices vary across different areas, ethnic groups as
well as ecological zones.

4. • Rural women play a very significant role in agriculture. A
large portion of rural women perform unpaid work in
agriculture. However, women’s role differs according to
geographical zones. Along the coast, women work as
agricultural labors in the cultivation of export crops as well
as in food production for the household. In the mountain
zone, women participate in all the agricultural tasks,
especially in land preparation, sowing, banking, weeding,
harvesting and irrigation and are responsible for livestock
and small scale marketing. In fisheries sector, women are
involved in food processing and marketing. As women have
the major responsibility for post harvest activities such as
processing and storage, they play a key role in household
food security.

5. • Women also perform a major rolein livestock,
especially in regard to shepherding, feeding,
milking and calving. Women farmers do not have
equal access to resources and this significantly
limits their potential in enhancing productivity.
They are often at a severe disadvantage when it
comes to securing land tenure rights, owning
livestock, accessing financial services, receiving
the kind of extension services and resources
(Amin et al, 2009).

6. • The prosperity and growth of a nation
depends on the position and development of
its females, as they not only constitute nearly
half of its population but also positively
influence the growth of remaining half of the
population. Rural women play momentous
role in many agricultural activities in many
countries. They perform almost all types of
activities in agriculture and livestock sector

7. • The major constraint for the involvement of
women in agricultural activities is the
household activities which takes much time to
perform it. In Pakistan, majority of population
live in rural areas whose source of revenue
depends directly or indirectly on agriculture
sector

8. • Rural women in Pakistan are among the millions of
landless and small farmers (Sadaf et al, 2006). Rural
women rely on crop production and livestock sector to
fulfill their basic needs of food, clothing and shelter.
These women play a key role in agriculture growth,
livestock raising, cottage industry and stay busy from
sunrise to sunset to provide food to men in the fields,
fetching water, collecting fuel wood and management
of livestock. While working shoulder to shoulder with
men, they really supplement their efforts in the
cultivation of the crops right from the preparation of
soil to the post harvest operations.

9. •Recommen
dation

10. Support from Men:
• Attitudinal and behavioral change particularly in
men is very important in improving the plight of
the women in Pakistan. There are certain social
taboos which are hampering the access to
education and training. Women should get equal
opportunity of education just like men. They have
a right to good health and they should stand up
and speak for their right. It is recommended that
ways to raise awareness and provide education to
address gender issues must be provided

11. Education and Training for Women:
• In order to improve women participation in dairy and
agriculture industry we have to identify their role and
type of work in these industries as mango and citrus
are considered heavy crops. Women are involved in
picking, grading and packing activities at Mitchells
Industries in Okara district and there is need to
implement that style in other areas as well. Therefore,
by imparting post harvest management skills such as
processing, packing and quality control will help them
in establishing juice, jam and pickle industries at local
level. It will promote local entrepreneurships. It is
recommended that agriculture training for women be
offered on farms and in local villages

12. Marketing Training:
• Rural women generally lack training, skills and
opportunities in this area. There is need to
involve urbanite women in this area so that
they could also play an effective role in this
area as well. It is recommended that
developmental programmes should be
launched to engage urban women with rural
women in order to develop market skills in
rural women so that they could get good price
for their produce

13. Enhanced Role of Extension Workers:
• They can play a positive role in improving
women participation in agriculture industry in
Pakistan by providing training to women at
their door step. There are farm field schools
for men in some areas of the Punjab so there
is need to replicate this experiment for
women as well. It is recommended to develop
a training programme for female agriculture
extension workers

14. Women empowerment techniques:
• Women should be encouraged to have
economic independence. The government
should investigate opportunities for
developing agricultural entrepreneurial
activities with concomitant training for
women.