Women farmers: The Invisible Face of Agriculture in India
Swaminathan, the famous agricultural scientist describes that it was woman who first domesticated crop plants and thereby initiated the art and science of farming. While men went out hunting in search of food, women started gathering seeds from the native flora and began cultivating those of interest from the point of view of food, feed, fodder, fiber and fuel. Women have played and continue to play a key role in the conservation of basic life support systems such as land, water, flora and fauna. They have protected the health of the soil through organic recycling and promoted crop security through the maintenance of varietal diversity and genetic resistance.
Gender discrimination runs deep at many levels: Women manage every aspect of farm work, but are not considered farmers. They toil in the fields—planting, sowing, weeding, and harvesting—but are not landowners. They harvest and process the produce, but men largely control the market and income. Studies on women in agriculture conducted in India and other developing and under developed countries all point to the conclusion that women contribute far more to agricultural production than has generally been acknowledged. Recognition of their crucial role in agriculture should not obscure the fact that farm women continue to be concerned with their primary functions as wives, mothers and homemakers.
Despite their importance to agricultural production, women face severe handicaps. They are in fact, the largest group of landless laborers with little real security in case of break-up of the family owing to death or divorce; inheritance laws and customs discriminate against them land reform and settlement programs usually give sole title and hence the security needed for obtaining production credits to the husband. Agricultural development programs are usually planned by men and aimed at men. Mechanization, for example alleviates the burden of tasks that are traditionally men’s responsibility, leaving women’s burdens unrelieved or even increased.
Rural women have very hectic life. Her work starts from dawn and ends at dusk. The daily routine work begins from house cleaning, fetching drinking water, dish washing, laundry, preparing food for family and taking care of children. Even though rural women supply half of the India’s food production, yet her own food security is always at risk. Women farmers are frequently ignored in development strategies and policies. In most of the developing countries, both men and women farmers do not have access to adequate resources, but women's are even more constrained because of cultural, traditional and sociological factors.
Rural women performs numerous labor intensive jobs such as weeding, hoeing, grass cutting, separation of seeds from fiber. They are also responsible for collection, preparing dung cakes an activity that also brings additional income to poor families. The rate of women in poultry farming at household level is the central in poultry industry. Even though rural women are not using modern management techniques, such as vaccination and improved feed, but their poultry enterprise is impressive. In order to generate more and more income, rural women often sell all eggs and poultry meat and left nothing for personal use. Due to poverty and lack of required level of proteins most of women have got a very poor health.
According to several studies undertaken, the rural women are uneducated and unskilled, thus their production capacity is very limited. Even though rural women also help in the production of staples like rice, wheat and maize, her contribution in this is taken as secondary. However, she has a very important role to play in production of legumes and vegetables.
Among all this depressing news about rural woman facing gender bias in agriculture, there are some who have risen from the ashes to have a successful farming venture. Rita Kamila from the Sundarbans is one of the few women who have been successful. Rita, after transitioning her farm to organic, now grows a stunning diversity of food crops. She has incorporated livestock and fish into her farm using ecological principles. Rita has also installed a bio-digester plant that is generating cooking fuel from farm waste, including livestock manure, which is judiciously recycled to provide nutrients to crops. Rita has gained the respect of her community and often mentors other farmers, who stop by her farm for peer-to-peer exchanges. She said her family has plenty to eat year-round. Women farmers like Rita Kamila demonstrate that they are crucial drivers of change and can persevere in the face of vulnerabilities.
The world is slowly acknowledging that recognizing women farmers, respecting women’s traditional knowledge, experience, and priorities, and encouraging their ability to innovate on the farm are crucial steps in addressing global food-security challenges. For the recognition of women contribution in agriculture and its allied fields and reducing the gender issues, the following suggestions can be carried out by the Central and State Governments: * Recognition of labor work of working women in the rural economy may be accounted in monetary terms. * More facilities should be provided to poor rural women for land, agricultural and livestock extension services. * Priority must be given to women in accessing credit on soft terms from banks and other financial institutions for setting up their business, for buying properties, and for house building. * Measures should be taken to enhance women's literacy rates. A separate education policy for women may serve the purpose. * Women must be involved in decision-making bodies that have the potential to introduce structural changes. This action will bring some changes in the gender relations in the society. * Women must be aware regarding their existing rights, access to judicial relief and redress, removing discrimination through legal reforms, and providing legal aid, assistance and counseling.
It can also be said that the rural women are exploited by land lords for their personal good and enrichment. Women are treated as sub- servant or personal property. In this regard government must formulate policies to enhance their skills and their work should be counted in economic indicators.
Funders should consider embracing a gender-justice lens in their grant making if their goals are to realize holistic, sustainable development and to promote food security. Gender justice envisions a world that is free from discrimination, in which men and women, both, have equitable access to resources and opportunities, and in which both share power and decision making. A gender-neutrality framework in grant making will simply not work—it leads to inefficiencies and is not an optimal use of resources. Besides, in many parts of the world, “gender neutral” means an inherent male bias.
As Elie Weisel wisely said, “Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

Varun Mehta TY B PRN- 12060221100

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