Women in Agriculture - Role of Islamic Microfinance! By: Aijaz Ali Khuwaja Development Consultant

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2. Women in Agriculture
Role of Islamic Microfinance!
By: Aijaz Ali Khuwaja
Development Consultant
A Case Study of Sindh,
Pakistan

3. Background
• Sindhisthe secondlargestprovinceof Pakistaninterms of populationandeconomic output.
• Sindhcontributesalmost33 percentof the nationalGrossDomesticProduct(GDP), It covers18 percentof Pakistan’stotallandmass
• Sindh’s current population (Census 2017)is around 42.9 millionout of 204.7millionPakistani population
• The province of Sindh comprises of 29 districts that are further divided on the basis of their geographical position and climatic conditions in to three
particularregions:upper,middleandlowerSindh
• Sindh’s agriculture input is around 40%in overallPakistani agriculture economy
• Sindh is mainly agriculture based. Its main crops include rice, cotton, wheat, sugarcane, mangoes, and bananas. Sindh is known for the quality and quantity
of its cottonproduction.Theprovince hasplentyof naturalresourcesincluding oil, gas,andcoal.
• Out of total 14 million hectares in Sindh, 5.45 million hectares are cultivable. The remaining area is either hills of Kirther Range, eastern desert of Thar and
AchharoThar, regions.

4. Agriculture Map of Sindh

5. Women in Agriculture Sector
• Pakistan’s agriculture sector involves 43.7% of labor force that produces their own food needs and ensures
availabilityoffoodfortherestofnationandvalueaddedactivities.
• Men and women farmers are involved in multiple sources of agriculture based livelihoods in Sindh,
Pakistanandmajority ofthem are either smallsubsistence farmers ortenants.
• WomeninSindhare involved incrop productionfromsowing tocultivationto market ofproducts
• Rural poverty ratio in Sindhis around56%(Womenare mostvulnerable group)
• Internal migration from rural to urban areas, especially male, has been increased in last one decade
dueto less opportunities andlandownership, farming&livelihood issues
• This has substantially increased the role of women in both on-farm and off-farm activities along with
greater workburden andresponsibilities ofwomenathome.

6.  The roleoftheruralwomen hasnotbeen recognizedto theextenttheycontribute.Their involvement is
actuallymorethanmen in crop production,livestock and dairyfarming
 Theyarefacing multiple issuesdue tolocal social andculturalnorms.
 Duringlasttwodecades,manypeople, mostlymen migratedfromruraltourbanareasofSindhorabroad
in ordertoimprovetheir incomepossibilitiesandtoavoidexploitationfromlocal landlords.
 Suchconditionshavegiven ruralwomenanactiverolein on-farmandoff-farmactivitiesandhasalso
increased theirworkburdenandresponsibilities.
 Womenin ruralSindhworkon averagefor12-14hoursaday.
 Ruralwomen playanimportantpartin agriculturesector activitiesandtheyarealso involved in house
activitieslike clotheswashing,childcare andcareofelder membersofthe family.
Contribution of Women in Agriculture

7. Contribution of Women in Agriculture
 Rice andcotton cultivation in Sindh jointly accounts formorethan one-third ofwomen’s annual agricultural activities.
 Similarly,women’s participation is the highest in cotton production in Sindh as this is considered tobe women led activity.
 In rice andcotton growingareas, ruralwomen havebeen spending 39 percent and50 percent oftheir time in related activities
respectively.
 They areinvolved in various primaryandsecondary cotton operations including weeding andthinning, applying manure,
hoeing, cotton cleaning, stick removing andstorage of cotton seed for domestic use.
 Women in ruralareas alsoinvolved in fetching water from1 to 2KMaway from their houses in ruralareas of Sindh
 Women involved in household activities and careofchildren

8. Issues of Women’s Involvement in
Agriculture
 Women farmers have less knowledge about using latest agriculture technologies
 They have increased burden of on-farm and off-farm activities, lack of clean drinking
water,
 Inappropriate sanitation facilities, low and poor quality health services and imbalanced
intake of food affects women’s health and makes them prone to diseases.
 Many women during diseases & pregnancies further suffer in the hands of quacks. This
has also increased the prevalence of mortality rate amongst rural women
 Rural Sindh is facing menace of hepatitis A & B, C in many areas. Maternal anemia is very
high and 62 percent pregnant women face chronic malnutrition in rural areas of Sindh
 Nearly 60 percent non pregnant mothers are having low hemoglobin levels.
 39 percent mothers (married women of child bearing age) are underweight.
 Women farmers are facing issues of chemical hazard during use of chemical spray in
fields
 They have not been given training about the use of chemicals in field
 They have no access to mechanized farm equipment
 Women perform most of the activities manually and increases their workload. This is
affecting women’s productivity and wage rate.
 Women are also having limited access to markets because of a patriarchal society.

9. Role of Islamic Microfinance in Agriculture
• Pakistanisone of themost promisingmarkets for IslamicMicrofinance,with nearly98%of the 180millionpopulationbeingMuslim.... Althougha numberof MFIsnowoffer
Shariahcompliantfinancialproductsin the sector.
• WhileIslamicmicrofinance’sreachhasincreasedconsiderablyover the pastfew years,provisionof Sharia-compliantproductsis stillin its earlystage, in Pakistanandglobally.
According to TrendsinSharia-CompliantFinancialInclusion,customersusingSharia-compliantproductsrepresentlessthan1% of totalmicrofinance outreachin Pakistan.At the
sametime, theoveralldemandforIslamic microfinanceproductsseemsto be growing rapidly,andPakistanis setto be oneof the mostpromisingmarkets.
• SeveralinstitutionshavelaunchedIslamic microfinanceproductsin Pakistanover thepastfew years,andthereare two microfinanceprovidersthat offera fully Sharia-compliant
productline. One of theseis Akhuwat, which operatesprimarilyonthe disbursementof Qard-Hassan,orinterest-freeloansofferedthroughdonationsgiven byindividualsand other
organizationssupportiveof itscause.Thedeliverymodel isbasedontheconcept of community, with most branchessetupin mosquesandchurches.
• Thesecondinstitutionis WasilFoundation,which offersa varietyof Sharia-compliantproductsincorporatinga margin of profitforthe institution,including salam(advanceagainst
futuredelivery),istisnaandmurabaha(cost plusmark-up), diminishingmusharaka(profit-and-losssharing),andijarah(leasing).
• According to Pakistan Microfinance Network (PMN),IslamicMicrofinance Modelsand their Viability inPakistan, highlights the need for funding sources to fill the
existing gap in Islamic microfinance provision in Pakistan. The different sources of financing include Waqf and Takaful models, each with their own strengths and
weaknesses in terms of viability in the Pakistan context.
• Islamic microfinance facility do not exist in rural or semiurban areas of Sindh, Pakistan, where mostly agrarian societyreside.

10. Microfinance Scheme
Phase B
 Formation of Women
Groups
 Microfinance loan in
groups
 Provision of Islamic
Micro financing at
doorstep
Phase A
Phase C
Consumers
 Land Reforms in True
Sense
 Land
Titling/ownership for
Women
 Microfinance loans for
seeds, urea etc
 Training of women
farmers/owners
about the safe use
of chemicals
Ownership Transfer
Women in
Agriculture
Involvement of women in agriculture can prevent
world from food crisis!
Proposed Solution

11. Kay Constraints of Rural Women in Agriculture
Constraints
• Rural women in the agriculture sector do not have access to
latest technologies and farming, etc.
• The reason is weak extension services and illiteracy among
women
• Lack of access to educational and vocational training facilities
and weak vocational training infrastructure that limits women’s
ability to improve their agriculture productivity and income.
• Disparities in daily wage rates and working hours of women and
men.
• Social barrier and cultural taboos
Solutions
• Women in agriculture need micro financing in education, health,
agriculture inputs & capacity building about the use of latest
technologies in farming
• Women in farming must be educated about the use of latest
technologies & use of chemicals in agriculture products
• Address social barriers through mobilization

12. Recommendations
• Ruralwomenpromotionalactivitiesshouldbe startedin ruralSindhon apublic
privatepartnershipbasiswiththeaimofcreatingawarenessregardingruralwomen’s
contributioninagricultureproductionalongwithprovidingthemaplatformfor
qualityoftheirmanufacturedproducts.
„
• Improvetheirtechnicalknowledgein agricultureproductionandmanagement.
• AgricultureextensiontrainingprogramsneedtobeconductedattheUnion
• Councilorvillagelevelratherthanintownsandcities.Thiswillhelpruralwomen
gainknowledgeandawarenessonnewtechniquesthattheycan useforcropand
• Government andprivate sector should facilitate women in allagriculture related activities
• Womenshould bemadeawareand empoweredon howtogetabetterpriceoftheir
agriculture,livestock,poultry,forestry,embroideryand otherhandmadeproducts.
„
• Governmentshould developand implementaregulatoryframeworkthatprovides
supportinagriculturesector.
• Landreformsarerequiredand thereis need ofpropershare ofwomen inland ownership
• Islamic microfinance bankingsystem requiredatvillage/union council leveltosupportwomenin farmingattheirdoorstep
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13. THANK YOU

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