Panel discussion on
WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE:
Challenges and way ahead
India
International Centre (ANNEXE, LECTURE ROOM 1)
Lodhi Road, New Delhi
10
July 2019
10.00 am-1 pm
Organised
By:-
Economic Research Foundation (ERF) and Focus on the
Global South
Speakers:-
Jayati Ghosh (Professor, Jawaharlal
Nehru University)
Jagmati Sangwan (Former General Secretary,
All India Women’s Democratic Association (AIDWA)
Jaya Mehta (Joshi Adhikari Institute
of Social Studies)
Dipa Sinha (Assistant Professor,
Ambedkar University of Delhi (AUD)
Namita Waikar (Managing Editor, People’s
Archive of Rural India (PARI)
Vikas Rawal (Professor, Jawaharlal
Nehru University)
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here for a glimpse of the Discussion
Background
Note
India
is currently faced with an acute agricultural crisis,
the causes of which can be traced back, at least in
part, to the neo-liberal reforms initiated in the
1990s. In the last two years there has been an intensification
of protests by farmers groups across the country,
of which, a significant emerging trend has been the
participation of a large number of women farmers,
women agricultural labourers and farm widows. In November
2018, around one lakh farmers marched to the Parliament
with a comprehensive list of demands, among which
farm-loan waivers for all and implementation of Minimum
Support Price (MSP) for all crops were the most publicised.
In addition, there were specific demands raised by
several thousand women farmers who marched for land
rights and recognition as farmers. The increasing
involvement of women in farmer marches is not surprising,
as women have always played a crucial role in agriculture,
even when it is not recognised or recorded. Their
work has been significant in transplanting, harvesting,
post-harvest processing and taking the final produce
to the market. However, the specific concerns of women
farmers and women engaged as agricultural labour have
largely remained invisible in both the policy discourse
and public perception.
Agriculture
accounts for the majority of women who are recognised
as employed in India – as farmers, unpaid helpers
on family farms or agricultural labourers. For the
women who work on their own or tenanted farms, the
absence of land rights implies that they do not get
access to institutional credit, extension services,
crop-loss compensation, input subsidies, irrigation
services and other farm-related benefits, and this
they face substantially worse conditions than men
farmers in otherwise similar situations. In general,
women agricultural labourers often do not get paid
the same as men, even for equal amount of work. In
addition, even those engaged in recognised employment
are forced to do a significant amount of unpaid work,
not only care work within households, but fetching
fuelwood and water. Women in rural India also face
other deprivations, for example in nutrition and food
security, access to health, and so on.
Some
states have tried to address the problem of landownership
by amending land-legislations and implementing reforms
such as lower interest rates and lower land registration
fees for women. Some states have sought to recognise
all farmers (including those without formal titles),
which would benefit women farmers. The draft National
Land Reform Policy (2013) also recognised the need
to grant land ownership rights to rural women and
redistribute land to all landless poor. Women farmers
have formed cooperatives and have engaged in sustainable
agriculture in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat,
Punjab and Kerala. For example, Kerala’s Kudumbashree
Mission initiated in 1998 is widely hailed as a success
story in empowering women. The Kudumbashree women’s
collective farming initiative has enabled the cultivation
of thousands of hectares of fallow land leading to
enhanced food security and livelihoods. Are these
schemes replicable in other states and how can they
be further improved?
This
panel discussion is being organised to reflect and
discuss on these various issues confronting women
in agriculture. Participants will include academicians,
representatives of peasant groups, women’s organisations,
researchers, journalists and students.
