Gender issues in rice based farming systems

1. Gender issues in
rice based farming
systems
Krishna Srinath
Director*
Directorate of Research on Women in Agriculture,
Bhubaneswar
(Retired in 2013)*

2. Dedicated to The Memory
Of
Dr Gopinath Sahu
Dr. Gopinath Sahu Memorial Lecture

3. Rice – A Women’s Crop
 Rice was traditionally considered as a female crop
taken care of by women individually or in groups
 Rice was considered as a ‘girl child’ because of its
delicacy and fragility, hence must be handled by
women in its early stages
 Rice farming scenario is usually represented by
women performing transplanting which signifies
their participation

4.  Female slaves smuggled the seed grains of rice in their
hair
 They gained knowledge through close observation of
plant growth cycle, growth habit, yield and cooking
quality. They had good knowledge of land races
 Separation of grains from the husk and bran is a
highly skilled technique in which women had
expertise
 A Senegal women was buried with the mortar and
pestle in honour of her labour
Rice – A Women’s Crop

5. Women and food security
The key to food security is in the hands of women

6.  Physically, Annapurna is described as holding a
golden ladle adorned with various kinds of jewels in
her right hand and a vessel full of delicious porridge
in her left
 She who is full, complete and perfect with food and
grains
 She who gives nourishment
 At the household level, which is the fundamental unit
of civilization; women holds the key to the food
security
Women and food security

7.  In ancient Roman religion
Ceres was a goddess of
agriculture, grain crops
and motherly
relationships
 Ceres was credited with
the discovery of spelt
wheat (far), the yoking of
oxen and ploughing, the
sowing, protection and
nourishing of the young
seed, and the gift of

8.  Rural women are the main producers of the
world’s staple crops – rice, wheat, maize,
sorghum and millets – which provide up to 90
percent of the rural poor’s food intake
 In Southeast Asia, women provide up to 90 per
cent of labour for rice cultivation
 In sub-Saharan Africa, women produce up to 80
per cent of basic foodstuffs both for household
consumption and for sale
Women and food : Some facts and
figures

9.  Women perform from 25 to 45 per cent of agricultural field
tasks in Colombia and Peru
 Women constitute 53 per cent of the agricultural labour in
Egypt
 Fewer than 10 per cent of women farmers in India, Nepal
and Thailand own land
 An analysis of credit schemes in five African countries
found that women received less than 10 per cent of the
credit awarded to male smallholders
 Only 15 per cent of the world’s agricultural extension
agents are women
Source : www.fao.org/gender/en/agrib4-e.htm.
Women and food : Some facts and
figures

10. Rice and nutritional
security
 Grown in 155 million hectare and supplies 1/5 of the
global calorie
 Enables producers to procure other food stuff by
selling the commodity
 The byproducts including hey, husk and bran support
the livestock production in the villages
 Intercropping and integrated cropping systems help to
produce different crops which adds variety to the diet
and contributes to other nutritional requirements in
the rural areas

13. The Indian Scenario
 Rice is key to food security in India
 Rice covers about 42 million hectares of the gross
cropped area
 Grown in most diverse agro ecological and
geographical situations that encompasses wide
socio economic and cultural diversity
 Rice, both raw and cooked forms have religious
and cultural significance

14. Rice based cropping systems in
India
 Cropping of single variety
 Mixed varietal cropping
 Intercropping with other crops
 Relay cropping
 Sequential cropping
 Integrated farming system

15. Changes in rice farming
systems
Many changes have been witnessed in rice
farming in the past years:
• Structural changes
• Technological changes
• Changes in socio economic dimensions

16. Structural changes
The changes lead to variety of consequences to the
rural communities which to some extent affect their
food security
Eg. When rice farming in ‘pokkali’ fields of Kerala
were converted for shrimp production women lost
employment opportunities, locally produced rice
and its byproducts which in turn affected the
livestock production in the village and also release
of free human resource

19.  World wide women play a very important role in crop,
livestock and fish production
 The nature and extent of participation varies with the
agro production systems
 Their role varies from mangers to landless labourers
 In overall farm production their contribution is
estimated at 55-60 per cent of the total labour, much
higher in certain regions
 Men’s participation remained constant around 52 per
cent whereas that of women increased from 19 per cent
to 26 per cent in 2001
Role of Women

20.  The share of women among total agricultural
labourers increased from 36.74 per cent in 1981 to
46.62 per cent in 2001
 Among cultivators women’s share increased from 25
per cent to 32 per cent
 According to FAO in Himalayas a pair of bullocks
works 1064 hours, a man 1212 hours and a woman
3485 hours in a one hectare farm
 About 20 crore people are estimated to be employed
in the unorganized sector including women
Role of Women

21. Key gender statistics on work
participation in India
Key Gender statistics on Work Participation in India
S.
no
Parameters %
1 Overall work participation in India 39.25
2 Work Participation Rate amongst women 25.6
3 Work participation Rate amongst men 51.9
4 Cultivators to total workers 31.7
5 Agricultural Labourers to total workers 26.7
6 Women cultivators amongst total cultivators 32.36
7 Women amongst total Agricultural Labourers 46.62
8 (Men) Cultivators amongst total men workers 31.34
9 (Women) cultivators amongst women workers 32.51
10 (Men) Agricultural Labourers amongst total men workers 20.82
11 (Women) Agricultural Labourers amongst women workers 39.43
Source: Census 2001

22. States/UTs with distinction in
Gender work participation
Sl.
No.
Parameters State/ UT %
1 Highest Overall Work Participation Rate Mizoram 52.7
2 Highest men Work Participation Rate D &D 65.5
3 Highest women Work Participation Rate Mizoram 47.6
4 Highest % of cultivators amongst workers Himachal Pradesh 65.5
5 Highest % of AL amongst workers Bihar 48.0
6 Highest % of men cultivators amongst men workers Nagaland 55.68
7 Highest % of women cultivators amongst women
workers
Himachal Pradesh 86.2
8 Highest % of Ag. Laborers amongst workers Bihar 48.2
9 Highest % of women AL amongst women workers Bihar 63.2
10 Highest % of Ag. Laborers amongst men workers Bihar 42.7
11 Highest % of (C +AL) amongst workers Bihar 77.4
12 Highest % of (C +AL) amongst men Workers Bihar 74.3
13 Highest % of (C +AL) amongst women Workers Himachal Pradesh 89.0
C = Cultivators AL = Agricultural Labourers
Source: Census 2001

23. Labor inputs in rainfed rice production
(days/ ha)
Country Villages Total Male Female
Indonesia Jakenan, Central Java Sumber
Central Java
161
178
54
59
46
41
Thailand Ban Sai Khram, South
Ban Don Paw Daeng
104
102
45
46
55
54
Philippine Carosucan, Sta. Barbara
Tampac, Nueva Ecija
133
188
73
68
27
32
Cambodia Kandal and Takeo 167 54 46
Vietnam He Thu District 105 45 55
Laos Khok Nghai, Xaythani
Ak-sang, Phonethong
110
117
24
38
76
62
India Four locations in Faizabad district 187
132
211
210
16
33
45
24
84
67
55
76
Nepal Naldung, Nagarkot
Mohana, Rantnagar
Baghmara, Rantnagar
269
101
95
42
50
45
58
50
55
Thelma R. Paris, Sept 23, 2009. Gender considerations in Partnership design and management Strengthening
Partnerships and Networks ICRISAT, Patancheru, A.P. India

24. S. no Activity Participation in %
Male Female
1. Land preparation 100 Nil
2. Seed preparation for sowing 8 82
3. Raising nursery and transplanting 25 75
4. Direct sowing 92 8
5. Irrigation 83 17
6. Applying FYM 75 25
7. Fertilizer application 83 17
8. Weeding 17 83
9. Plant protection 83 17
10. Harvesting 42 58
11. Threshing 58 42
12. Bagging/ storing of grain 17 83
13. Marketing of produce 92 8
14. Storing dry fodder 66 34
Over all 60 40
Gender analysis of crop farming
systems

25.  Farm related activities include
Role and responsibility
- Land preparation
- Seed selection
- Seed treatment
- Nursery raising
- Plant protection
- Transplanting
- Irrigation
-Application of manure/ fertilizer
-Harvesting
-Labour management
-Management of produce
-Financial management
About 65 per cent women participate in farm related
activities whereas men’s participation is about 72 per cent,
typology being individual and joint participation

27. Gender issues in rice
production
o Access to and control over resources
o Knowledge differences
o Access to information, technology, extension and market
o Technology bypass women
o Drudgery in agricultural operations
o Inadequate and inequitable access to credit and financial
services
o Low skills and poor access to skill training
o Lack of market information and marketing channels
o Inadequate holding premises
o Lack of business advice and guidance
o Migration

28. Gender differences in
landholding
 For developing countries for which data are
available, between 10 percent and 20 percent of all
land holders are women
 The developing countries having both the lowest
and highest shares of female land holders are in
Africa
 Among smallholders, farms operated by female-
headed households are smaller in almost all
countries for which data are available
Source : FAO, 2011

29. Share of male and female agricultural
holders in main developing regions

30. Issues of Women Agricultural
Labourers
Burden of feeding
and nurturing the
children
Less time for child
care
Health hazards
Less rest during
prenatal and post
natal period
Exploitation by
land owners Physical drudgery
Insecurity at work
place
Travel to distant
places for work
Limited right over
family resources
Malnutrition or
under nutrition
Low wage rate than
male
Deprivation from
health services
Deprivation from
education

31. Access to and control over
resources
 The access to and control over resources varies
from region to region and for different assets.
 Men have greater access to land, farm
implements and marketing
 In post harvest management women have more
responsibility and better access

32. Access to information,
technology, extension and
market
 Women’s access to information, technology and
market is less than that of men
 Women’s participation in knowledge gathering is
marginal
 Technology development in agriculture is mostly
focused on mechanization and gender issues
overlooked
 Poverty, low level of literacy and remoteness of
villages hinder access to information, technology and
market

33. Technology types in rice
farming
 Production enhancing : Directly contribute to the
output (seed, soil, fertilizer, pesticide etc)
 Production supporting : Tools and equipments
which provide a supporting role (power tiller,
tractor, thresher, sprayer, harvester etc)
 Post production : Processing and value addition
(graders, parboiling units, dryers, grinders etc)

34. Drudgery in agricultural
operations
 Almost all farmwomen suffer from physical
drudgery in various agricultural operations
 Transplanting rice in mud in bending position for a
long time in rains and scorching sun
 Weeding by hand in sun, rain and cold for long
hours, drying of produce, standing in scorching sun

35.  Harvesting in bending position with traditional
sickle
 Winnowing in dust and sun for a long time
 Parboiling of rice by traditional arduous methods
 Dehusking/shelling, pounding and grinding by
hand as well as hand operated chakki
Drudgery in agricultural
operations

36. Drudgery level of agricultural activities as perceived by the
agrarian women in paddy/jhum cultivation
Activities Overall
drudgery
status
Reasons
Transplanting
/ Planting
Heavy a. Bending posture
b. Long hour of standing in deep puddled soil
c. Discomfort on moving forward and backward in
wet field. Care and skill required for uniformity
in transplanting/planting
Threshing Heavy a. Bending posture
b. High energy required for threshing
Weeding Moderately
heavy
a. Long hours of sitting in wet fields
b. Requiring difficult posture in handling
traditional implements
c. Selection of weed plants from cultivated rice
variety
d. Use of blunt and old implements

37. Activities Overall
drudgery
status
Reasons
Cutting Moderately
heavy
a. Bending or sitting on toes
b. High energy required for cutting
c. Injuries while cutting by traditional sickle
d. Setting the lodged plants
Carrying the
harvested
produce
Moderately
heavy
a. Difficulties in preparing bundles and
carrying
b. Carrying head load of bundles causing
stress and strain on eyes and neck
Drudgery level of agricultural activities as perceived by the
agrarian women in paddy/jhum cultivation

38. Parameters considered for
ergonomic evaluation
 Anthropometric data
 Muscular strength data
 Aerobic capacity, physiological cost of operation (heart rate
and oxygen consumption rate)
 Working posture and load carrying capabilities
 The technologies can help in reducing drudgery, increasing
utilization efficiency of inputs, ensure timeliness in field
operations and reduce turn around time for the next crop,
increase productivity, conserve energy, improve quality of
work and quality of produce and ultimately enhance the
quality of work life of agricultural labourers

39. In order to transplant 1 hectare of paddy the
farmwomen has to dib her finger 30,000
times. This workload is however shared by
about 10-12 women.
• Hand ridger
• Fertilizer broadcaster
• 4-row paddy drum seeder
• 2-row paddy drum seeder
• 2-row rice transplanter
• 4-row rice transplanter
• Twin wheel hoe
• Cono weeder
Drudgery reducing tools and
equipments for rice farming

40. • Foot operated paddy thresher
• Pedal operated cleaner-grader
• Wheel type of fertilizer broadcaster
• Pedal thresher
• Paddy parboiling unit
• Spreading tool
• Grain cleaner hanging type
• Paddy winnower
• Tools and equipment for value addition
Drudgery reducing tools and
equipments for rice farming

42. Technology for rice farming and gender
impact
Technologies Positive benefits for women farmers
Modern glutinous
rice variety
• Increases land productivity
• Provides independent income from sale of
glutinous rice cakes
Weed tolerant
varieties (Udayagiri,
Ghanteswari,
Nilagiri)
Better threshold weed density and weed
tolerance which helps in drudgery reduction
SRI method Ease of crop management and weeding,
increased production, saving in inputs and
entrepreneurship development in preparation
of mat nursery and transplanting
Combine harvester Can be owned by women/ custom hired/
lending out to other farmers

43. Technologies Positive benefits for women farmers
Post harvest
machinery for
processing rice;
rice huller;
rice micro mill;
rice flour mill
• Reduces drudgery of hand pounding
• Increases volume of rice processed
• Saves time and provides flexibility in time use
• Provides additional income
• Empowers women individually and as a group
Rice husk stove • Reduces use of purchased energy
• Uses available biomass
Integrated pest
management
• Increases savings on pesticides
• Reduces/ eliminates harmful effects of
pesticides on human health and food in the
natural habitat
Technology for rice farming and gender
impact

44. Migration
 Migration affects the social structure as well as
agriculture and changes in agriculture sector
leads to migration
 Results in temporary/ long term female headed
households and burden of agriculture falls on
women
 Leads to food insecurity and malnutrition

45. Gender Concerns in
agriculture
 Technology
 Access to resources
 Control over resources
 Post harvest process
 Institutional support
 Policy support
 Right to access safe and nutritious food
 Eradication of hunger
 Equal participation by men and women
 Control and management of natural resources
 Opportunities for off farm employment

46. In agriculture gender manifests in :
 Physical and mental efficiency
 Equity and distributional issues
 Food security
 Household welfare
 Human right
 Access to productive assets and resources
In the present socio-cultural settings all the above are skewed
to men. Hence, gender mainstreaming in the present times
has more emphasis on women.
Manifestation of Gender

47. Engendering agricultural
Research
Distribution of gender studies into different theme areas
12.23
28.82
6.07
52.88
Extension, institution and
technology transfer
Socio-economic and
participation
Policy
Empowerment and
mainstreaming

48. Gender studies in India
 Attention to gender issues was first drawn in India
by Dr M.S. Swaminathan when he was Deputy
Chairman, Planning Commission by introducing a
chapter in the Sixth Five Year Plan
 At IRRI his strengthen and promoted the concept of
women in rice based farming system
 Studies related to women in agriculture and rural
development in India dates back to 1961 and by 1988
more than 500 such studies were abstracted

49. Data base and tools on
women in agriculture
 There are many micro level studies on role of women.
However at macro level the main sources of data are from
secondary sources
 Studies on role of women were initiated in India by Home
scientists as early as 1960’s
 Gender analysis in rice farming systems were initiated at
IRRI and advanced the theory and practice of gender
analysis. (Thelma Paris, 1991)
 Gender analysis (SEAGA) Programme, Gender and
Development Service (Vicke Wilde, 2001)

50. Sources of gender data
 All India Census
 NSSO
 FAO and studies and
World Bank Reports
 ILO
 Country level and micro
level studies (Eg.Gender
Data Base & Studies of
DRWA and studies
under AICRP on Home
Science)

51. Requirements of gender
sensitive research
 Gender perspective is incorporating gender concerns in
research, extension and development and requires
 Good contextual understanding of the environment in
which it operates
 Well defined gender objective
 Gender equity incorporated in participation,
prioritization design, decision making, implementation
and evaluation
 Appropriate research design exploratory, ex-post facto,
experimental and action research
 Expertise and organizational commitment

52. Research should aim to
address
 Role and status
 Occupational health hazards
 Drudgery
 Access to and control over resources and inputs
 Technology refinement
 Policy advocacy
 Institutional measures
 Research methodology

54. SEAGA Approach

55. MARKETS
Gender asymmetries in
participation and power in
land, labor, finance, and
product markets
• Distribution of risks and
gains along the value
chains
RISK &
VULNERABILITY
• Household composition/
labor availability (dependency
ratios; migration; disability)
• Physical and agro-ecological
risks & gender-differentiated
impacts
• Gender-responsive social
protection measures
INFORMATION &
ORGANIZATION
• Gender asymmetries in market
information; extension services;
and skills/training
• Gender asymmetries in
participation and leadership
in rural organizations
• Empowerment and political
voice, especially of women
ASSETS
Gender asymmetries in
access to and control over
social, physical, financial,
natural, and human capitals
Sustainable livelihoods
Sustainable Livelihoods through a
Gender Lens

56. Recent studies by DRWA
Studies conducted at nine states of India covering
different agro-climatic zones indicated that
 Women’s participation was more in homestead
based agriculture
 Joint participation in crop production – 75 per cent
 Highest participation in Himachal and lowest in
Uttarakhand with more of joint participation

57. Gender participation (%) in
different
crops in Madhya Pradesh

58. Gender participation of women and men calculated
on the basis of total percentage women hours in
different crops showed that women’s participation
in rice based cropping system was 44.5 per cent
followed by finger millet (43.1%), vegetables
(36.9%) and wheat (32.4%).
Gender participation (%) in
different
crops in Madhya Pradesh

59. Some observations from
Orissa
An ongoing study by DRWA with CRRI and other crop
institutes indicated –
 Women’s share in rice farming is about 40 per cent and
constitute 1/3 of agriculture labour
 Except ploughing women participate in almost all activities
from selection of seed to fodder management
 Excepting threshing and winnowing all the activities in rice
farming are found to be carried out in traditional ways
 Men and women opine that traditional technologies are
easily available, affordable and specialized skilled not
required

60. Closing the gender gaps
• Can improve agricultural productivity, additional
benefits through raising, incomes of female farmers,
increasing the availability of food and reducing food
prices, and raising women’s employment and real
wages
• Increases production and income
• Generates broader social and economic benefits by
strengthening women’s direct to access to and
control over resources and income

61.  Evidences from Africa, Asia and Latin America
consistently shows that families benefit when
women have greater status and power within the
household
 Increased control over income gives women a
stronger bargaining position over economic
decisions
 Female farmers are just as efficient as male farmers
but they produce less because they control less land,
use fewer inputs and have less access to important
services such as extension advice
Closing the gender gaps

62. Approaches to closing gender
gap
Policies and Programmes
 National Policy for Farmers
 National Food Security Mission
 RKVY
 NHM
 Mahila Kisan Shasaktikaran Pariyojana
 National Policy for Women in Agriculture
(Draft)

63. Models for closing gender
gaps
• Women empowerment model
• Gender sensitive para extension worker model
(Implemented at Simore, Kantamalim, Padasahi
and Tangibanta)
• Public-private partnership for gender
mainstreaming
• Cropping models for gender mainstreaming

64. Philosophy of agriculture
development rests on the
partnership between man
and land and the man is in
the centre stage of
development, so is, the
partnership between farm
and home. Farm and home
are inseparable, so are men
and women like two wheels
of a cart.