How we can improve the status of women in agriculture and bring visibility to women farmers. The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index placed India 112th out of 153 nations in 2020. Women have the lowest levels of economic involvement and prospects, ranking 149th out of 153 nations (World Economic Forum 2020).

1. Where are Women Farmers?
Challenges, Issues and solutions towards an
Equal Future
At
Convergence Meeting with National Gender Resource Centre in Agriculture (NGRCA), New Delhi
on 24.8.2022 at ICAR-CIWA, Bhubaneswar
By
Anita Yadav
Senior Program Manager

2. Status
• 73.2% of rural women engaged in farming, (The agricultural census, 2015-16),
• Women grow as much as 80% of India’s food
• Nearly 75% of the full-time workers on Indian farms are women
• Women farmers work about 3,300 hours, double the 1,860 hours their male counterpart
• Out of the 263 million total agricultural workers, 37% (about 98 million) are women.
• Only 12.8% women own land & about 11.72% of the total operated by them.
• One-third of female farmers in India are unpaid
• 20% Women headed Families , as about 33.7% of rural males migrate for employment
and better economic opportunities.
• Women share non agricultural wages employment only 17% more dependence on
agriculture
Where I am ? Daughter of the soil

3. 8
5955
97
2691
14090
1
3457
12 6 17 55
4440
1371
922
1307
2483
6919
5778
5
8808
12894
140 152 79 177
4667
26
1074
6866
66
6350
4579
502
21972
775
7008
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
State-wise estimated number of female and male operational holders as per Agriculture Census 2015-16
Female Male
Female = 20439
Male = 125751

4. Challenges and Issues
• In 2020, India ranked 112 out of 153 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index
• Lowest economic participation levels and opportunities for women, ranking 149 out of 153 countries (World
Economic Forum 2020)
• 90% of agricultural land in India is transferred through inheritance, women remain stuck as laborers for
generation after generation
• 52–75 per cent of Indian women engaged in agriculture are illiterate
• Social Norms -lack of access to land, financing, markets, agricultural training and education,
suitable working conditions, and equal treatment
• Gender roles prevent women from bringing their crops to market or even leaving their villages
without their husband’s permission
• Female farmers much less able to travel than men, so their access to inputs , technology
information credit and markets –limited reach
• Climate change impacts women disproportionately, particularly those connected to agriculture and
allied activities
• Percentage of female farmers enrolled under PMFBY during 2020-21 is 15.3%
• Percentage of female beneficiaries under PM-KISAN is 25.1 %
• No Sex-disaggregated data for customer segmentation for adoption of agricultural technologies
• An average of one female farmer there takes her own life each month(Al Jazeera.)

5. • In 2012, agricultural scientist, Rajya Sabha member, MS Swaminathan, introduced The Women Farmers’
Entitlements Bill, 2011, to identify women as farmers, and not cultivators. Unfortunately, this bill lapsed in
April 2013 due to a lack of support and interest.

6. • Most of the schemes today lack focus on enhancing women’s participation and recognition of their role in the agricultural
system.
• Targets for agricultural scheme are gender blind
• Gender-wise data on farmers income is not available .
• As per data, only about 4- 5% of women farmers have been taking advantage of Kisan credit cards – Strategies to address
not clear
• Globally, India continues to lag behind in terms of access to bank credit for its women with only 5% of India’s women having
accessed bank credit in 2017.
• Access to seeds is powerfully shaped by gender relations but access to women farmers to quality seeds from Govt seed
supply system is not available
• Female farmers availing the Minimum Support Price(MSP) for Kharif or Rabi Marketing system is not available- Strategies to
address not clear
• Technology supply system not developed in robust manner , Even though women friendly technologies available ,
procurement process and sale is taught to reach to women farmers
• In India, the mobile phone was first adopted by men; only then was its use passed to women
• I&M Association of India (IAMAI) data shows that in rural India Male to Female internet use is 88:12
• Over half of the bank accounts under the scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) belong to women but 50% are
not operational
• 8% women participated last year in financial literacy training

7. • Gender inequalities coupled with social norms
make women highly vulnerable to climate
change
• Women face impacts of climate change than
men
• on reduced water availability (W-18% vs M -9%),
• agricultural productivity (W-87% vs M72%), and
• livestock problems (W-17% vs M -8%) - International
Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in 2015)

8. Following schemes have specific components for the
welfare of women farmers
• National Food Security Mission,
• National Mission on Oilseed & Oil Palm,
• National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture,
• Sub-Mission for Seed and Planting Material,
• Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization and
• Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture.
Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP):
Subcomponent of DAY-NRLM (Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana —
National Rural Livelihoods Mission).

9. Scheme
2017-18 2017-18 2018-19 2018-19 2019-20 2019-20 2020-21
BE RE BE RE BE RE BE
Sub-Mission on Agriculture Mechanisation 165 233.01 349.59 269.39 300 304.5 300
National Project on Soil Health and Fertility 135.6 64.2 120 90.01 97.26 46.76 94.5
National Food Security Mission 480 420 507.21 453 600 533.07 630
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana 1350 915 1080 1080 1123.5 828 1110
Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna 81 75 108 90 97.5 89.81 150
Sub-Mission on Seed and Planting Material 60 144 99.6 99.6 114.04 90 113.63
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana -
915 900 1200 886.41 1050 609.66 1200
Per Drop More Crop
Mission for Integrated 636 657 760.8 630 667.5 475.05 690
Development of
Horticulture
Sub-Mission on 273.6 246.3 306 262.5 285 282 360
Agriculture Extension
Organic Value Chain 30 30 48 54.74 48 48 52.5
Development for North
Eastern Region
Rainfed Area Development and Climate
Change
66.9 63 70.2 67.5 75 43.82 60.75
National Protect Forest Protection 30 12 22.5 12 15 8.4 10.8

10. Where are women farmers in these 10,000 FPOs?
• There is no mention about the minimum number of women FPOs to be formed
• There no any mention of the minimum number of women shareholders in a mixed FPO.
• The only non-negotiable laid down is that the FPO’s board of directors should have at least one female board member.
• Men and women farmers come from gendered experiences, and face different gender constraints and opportunities,
and this needs to be reflected in the guidelines
• The reality is that there is no gender segregated data on FPOs available in public domain.
• Gender-based impact analysis of ATMA (Agriculture Technology Management Agency) programme ’
• According to a report by Azim Premji University in 2019 there were approximately 7,374 FPCs in the country. Of this,
due to a lack of gender segregated data, the study estimated that about 3 % (or 220) of these were women's FPCs.
• This is a mere 5.9 percent of 17,000 FPOs expected in the country by 2024, and disproportionate when
compared to women being 73 percent of the agricultural labour force.

11. • Currently, there are 24,450 active FCs with 2,17,457 members; 4,66,054 farmers have been trained till date but how
many women farmers
• Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund 15000 crore but many women FPC or women
are getting benefits
• Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana 20500 crore how many women FPC or women are getting
benefits
• Credit Guarantee Fund of `1,000 crore but how many women FPC or women are getting benefits
India’s agricultural and allied exports were 41.3 billion 2.5% of world agri-trade)
in FY 2021
How many women farmers exporters?
Where are women farmers in these 10,000 FPOs?

12. ‘Pro-women farmer initiatives’
-Towards an equal future
• It is important to take stock of the situation today
• ‘Inclusive transformative agricultural policy’, aimed at gender-specific interventions
• Better access to credit, technology, and provision of entrepreneurship abilities need to be developed
to boost women’s confidence and help them gain recognition as farmers.
• Focus on enhancing women’s participation and leadership in each of agriculture
• Recognition of their role in the agricultural system.
• Different training methodology or duration
• More support to access share capital or working capital
• Minimum number of women FPOs to be formed
• Gender-wise data on farmers income

13. • District wise based on population -Targets for women farmers
• Gender segregated data on FPOs available in public domain.
• Gender integration in agriculture and climate change policies in the country, Target
• Minimum Support Price(MSP)
• Access to high quality seeds -Gender-responsive seed systems need to develop
• Address the inter-related issues of gender, agriculture, and climate change instead of looking
at them in isolation
• Focus on Financial literacy , digital literacy
‘Pro-women farmer initiatives’
-Towards an equal future

14. • Evaluation : Different agricultural schemes for women in agriculture , its status,
challenges, solution and scope for improvement and also comparative performance
analysis with African and Asian countries.
• This will include
Different schemes for women farmers across states and its performance and impact on GDP growth
of the state
High performance state and low performance states, responsible factors , causes and challenges
Budget allocation and utilization for schemes for women farmers
 % Share of scheme to social and economics categories allocations and utilization
 Successful scheme and high potential for replication across other states
Demand analysis for new scheme and policy development
Nexus of scheme performance climate , gender and nutrition , poverty
…………………………………………………..We can explore more
Stock of the situation today

15. The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) estimates that if women had the same access to
productive resources as men, they could increase yields on
their farms by 20-30%, leading to higher agricultural
output in developing countries and a dramatic reduction
in hunger.
MILES TO GO ……….
Celebrate not only 15th October as National Women Farmer’s Day or Rashtriya Mahila Kisan Diwas but
every day action for bringing visibility of HER in sector