b.sc. agri i bo a unit 4 women in agriculture

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Course: B.Sc. Agriculture Subject: Basic of Agriculture Unit :4 Women in Agriculture

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Course: B.Sc. Agriculture

Subject: Basic of Agriculture

Unit :4

Women in Agriculture

“Women play a significant role in agriculture, the world over.

About 70% of the agricultural workers, 80% of food producers, and 10%

of those who process basic foodstuffs are women and they also undertake

60 to 90% of the rural marketing; thus making up more than two-third of

the workforce in agricultural production (FAO, 1985). In West Africa, up

to 80% of the labour force in all trade is female.

Yet, the role of women in these activities, so important

economically, has remained obscure for long because women seldom

played any major roles in political activities or decision making processes.

Despite the fact that women produce much of the food in the developing

world, they also remain more malnourished than most men are. In many

rural societies, women eat less food than men do, especially when the

food is scarce, such as just before the harvest, or when the workload

increases without a corresponding increase in the food intake."

Women in Agriculture

Indian Women in Modern Times

Categories of employment (2001)

Female Male

Agricultural laborer 46.3% 23.0%

Cultivator 34.6% 39.9%

Household industry 3.5% 2.1%

Non-household industry 3.8% 8.8%

Services 8.3% 10.8%

Other categories 3.5% 15.5%

Role of Women in Indian Agriculture

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Key Facts

• Indian population is 48.1% women and 51.9% men • Female illiteracy is 62% whereas the male illiteracy rate is 34% • The labour force participation rate of women is 22.7%, less than half of the men's rate of 51.6% • In rural India, agriculture and allied industrial sectors employ as much as 89.5% of the total female labour

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Key Facts

• Women have extensive work loads with dual responsibility for farm and household production • Women's work is getting harder and more time-consuming due to ecological degradation and changing agricultural technologies and practices • Women have an active role and extensive involvement in livestock production, forest resource use and fishery processing

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Key facts• Women contribute considerably to

household income through farm and non-farm activities as well as through work as landless agricultural labourers. • Women's work as family labour is underestimated • There are high degrees of inter-state and intra-state variations in gender roles in agriculture, environment and rural production

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Multi-Dimensional Role of Women

Agriculture : Sowing, transplanting, weeding, irrigation, fertilizer application,plant protection,harvesting, winnowing, storing etc.

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winnowingFertilizer application

Sowing

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Domestic: •Cooking, •child rearing, •water collection, •fuel wood gathering,• household maintenanceetc.

12water collection

child rearing

fuel wood gathering

fuel wood gathering

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Allied Activities:

•Cattle management,• Fodder collection,• Milking etc

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Mainly rural women are engaged in agricultural activities in three different ways depending onthe socio-economic status of their family and regional factors. They are work as:

(i) Paid Labourers

(ii) Cultivator doing labour on their own land and

(iii) Managers of certain aspects of agricultural

production by way of labour supervision and

the participation in post harvest operations.

National Research Centre for Women in Agriculture (NRCWA).

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The Indian Council of Agricultural Research established the NRCWA

in the month of April 1996 at Bhubaneswar and has since been

upgraded as the Directorate of Research on Women in Agriculture

(DRWA) from the year 2008.

DRWA is carrying out basic, strategic and applied research on

various gender related issues in agriculture and allied sectors with

thematic approach in creating a repository of gender disaggregated

data and documentation; technology testing and refinement;

drudgery assessment and reduction; gender sensitive extension

approach; capacity building of scientists and functionaries; efficient

resource management; and gender mainstreaming.

Summary• The women is the backbone of

agricultural workforce and are a vitalpart of Indian economy.

• Over the years, there is a gradualrealization of the key role of women inagricultural development and theircontribution in the field of agriculture,food security, horticulture, dairy,nutrition, sericulture, fisheries, andother allied sectors.

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Following are the key points,which will

help in creating respectable role of women in Indian agriculture

1. Skill empowerment.

• By training in the area of various operations : – i. Field operations

– ii. Conservation of biodiversity

– iii. Nutritional bio-security

– iv. Vocational training

– v. Organic farming

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2. Technology development for women

Designing of tools for various field operations

b. Animal husbandry

i. Artificial insemination.

ii. Veterinary knowledge

c. For side income

i. Mushroom cultivation

ii. Floriculture

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3. Creation of self help groups

a. For financial support

b. For generation of employment

4. Projection of contribution of women by collecting

and analysing data

a. Collection and display of data

b. Projection of successful women in agriculture

c. Representation of their contribution in economic

terms

5. Providing Financial Powers

a. Giving representation in land holdings

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These were lack of work assurance and insufficient payment

resulting in family problems, bad communication and support, and mutual

respect in collective, daily and hourly contact with sick animals, owners,

clients, buyers, suppliers, dealers, etc. Most of them expressed aggressive

behaviours toward one another, increased quality requirements at decreased

number of personnel and frequent organisational changes, high responsibility

at less autonomy.

Second were the factors, related to the work process

The most important place in this group was covered by factors

of work management – defects of personnel management, bad definition of

work tasks, dictatorial decisions, and unexpected changes in the organisation.

Inconvenient work pose was a leading risk factor by significance for tractor-

drivers, milkman, and field workers. Thirty percent of them think that the

monotonous and continuously repeated work was a stress factor because of the

need of high concentration and responsibility.

Work stress Factors

Second was the factor “work difficulty” in quantitative

(tractor-drivers, animal breeders) and qualitative (vets, zoo engineers,

agronomist, veterinary technicians) aspects. The problem of systemic

extension of work time and absence of a physiological regime of work

and rest, and conditions for changing and alternation of the activities

was taken seriously.

Forty five percent of interviewees reported that they

faced frequent interruptions at their primary sites of work resulting in

inability to conclude effectively their daily routines. This situation was

particularly true among the animal breeders, tractor drivers and

fieldworkers.

Tractor drivers faced the problem of obsolete tractors,

bad roads, infringement of traffic regulations, necessity to work on

difficult terrains.

The following were shown as factors of work environment:

•noise, vibrations and dust (tractor drivers);

•noise and dust (animal breeders);

•work with biological hazards (vets, zoo-engineers and

veterinary technicians)

A large part of the interviewees (about 65%) thought that stress at

work was one of the essential factors for the occurrence of some

diseases of the cardio-vascular system(infarctions, hypertonic

disease, etc), digestive system (ulcer, colitis) and some nervous

disorders (depression, neurosis). Subjective complaints varied from

light tenseness, anxiety, and poor co-ordination to different

psychosomatic diseases. The vegetative changes are typical,

manifested by rapid pulse, sweating of the palms, feeling of

weakness, restlessness, emotional instability, pale skin, tremor of

limbs, etc.

The commonly performed agricultural activites

in India were weeding, cutting/ uprooting, transplanting,

threshing, mannuring.

Drudgery is generally conceived as physical and

mental strain, agony, monotony and hardship experienced

by human beings while all of women in the is regard is

alarming as they continue to be constrained by illiteracy,

malnutrition and unemployment.

Drudgery Reduction

Based on the needs, the drudgery reduction measures

introduced for women include:

•Creation of safe drinking water sources closer to their houses

•Maternal and child health and family welfare

•Strengthening of traditional health care practices

•Training of midwives and upgrading the skills of local healers

•Awareness on health, hygiene and sanitation

•Training of local youth as health guides for first-aid

•Establishment of community grain banks and promotion of

nutrition gardens

•Promotion of energy conservation devices: improved woodstoves,

biogas, solar devices and energy plantations

•Establishment of Anganwadis and awareness of girl’s education

Strategy for Drudgery Reduction among Women Farmers

The proposed activities of the proposal when

achieved will provide additional income which will help to reduce

the women farmers’ drudgery. Presently women are involved to

earn merger income for their subsistence and this whole process is

full of hardships and resultant drudgery.

After the proposed project inputs, proper training

and capacity building their knowledge as well as risk bearing

capacity will increase and they will become capable to earn more

income by adopting quality measures. Further special care will be

taken to find out such activities in their daily routine as well as

work circle which involves drudgery.

S.

No.Task Role of Woman

Technology

application

Impact on

Drudgery

Reduction

A Agriculture Operations

1 Sowing (SRI) Maintain proper

distance and space

Marker application Proper distances

maintained in less

time and effort

2 Weeding Manually using

hands and bare feet

Cono-weeder Physical effort is

reduced drastically

3

Mulching Manual operation by

women with bare

hand and feet

shoes and gloves It saves vital body

parts by protecting

4

Spray of

pesticide/insectici

de

Manually mixing

with hand and spray

by hand

Spray pump Easy to operate

more output, saves

from harmful

inorganic products

5

Irrigating/water

management

Manually through

wells and ponds

using buckets

Low cost irrigation

application

Saves lots of time

and effort and

proper water

management

6Harvesting of crop Manually with old

instruments

Improved sickle Easy operation

using less labour

B Household chores

1

Routine home

work

Improper light and

fuel source makes it

hell

Transparent roof

sheet, Solar light

Low cost, easy to

operate, help

children study and

health enviroment

2

Kitchen Routine cooking task Improved

smokeless chullah

Easy to operate,

help in health

improvement

3Fetching water

from wells

Manually fetched Ball bearing Easy to operate, less

physical power

4

Fetching potable

water from far

away

Manually fetched Hand pump or

water cleaning

devices

saves time and

energy and

improves health

5 NTFP/fuel wood

collection

Manually fetched by

head load

Cycle or small

pulling device

Less energy much

more output and

more money

Draw weeder

This weeder is best suited to dry areas. It consists of a toothed, double-

edged blade attached to a long handle. The sharp-toothed blade cuts

weeds just below the soil surface.

V-blade hand hoe

This tool, designed for light weeding, consists of a long wooden

or bamboo handle joined to a sharpened, V-shaped blade. The

blade cuts through soil, cutting weeds just below the soil

surface.

Khurpa-cum-sickle

This sickle is best suited for harvesting wheat and rice crops. It

has a wooden handle with a special hand grip shaped to make

harvesting easier. The sickle blade, made of serrated carbon

steel, is riveted to a 12-mm wide, Ushaped strip which is fixed

to the handle. Ten women using naveen sickles can harvest I

ha in 1 0 hours.

Group DynamicsA system of behaviours and psychological processes

occurring within a social group (intra group dynamics), or between social

groups (inter group dynamics). The study of group dynamics can be useful in

understanding decision-making behaviour, tracking the spread of diseases in

society, creating effective therapy techniques, and following the emergence

and popularity of new ideas and technologies.

Group dynamics are at the core of understandingracism,

sexism, and other forms of social prejudice and discrimination. These applications

of the field are studied in psychology, sociology, political science, epidemiology,

education, social work, business, and communication studies.

A group is two or more individuals who are connected to each

other by social relationships. Because they interact and influence each other,

groups develop a number of dynamic processes that separate them from a random

collection of individuals. These processes include norms, roles, relations,

development, need to belong, social influence, and effects on behaviour. The field

of group dynamics is primarily concerned with small group behaviour. Groups

may be classified as aggregate, primary, secondary and category groups.

Advantages of Groups

The major potential advantages of groups can be divided into three major

areas: For outside individuals(extension, developmental, and research) or

organisations (government and non-governmental including NGOs or

commercial firms, banks, etc.)

farmer groups can:

improve their efficiency in working with rural people through

providing a single point of contact for many farmers;

improve their effectiveness in working with farmers by providing

the opportunity to train several clients/people simultaneously;

save repeated explanations of activities and encourage collective

feedback;

provide a rapid and cost-effective way of verifying and reinforcing

findings from individual farmer contacts and disseminating of findings and

other information;

increase the number of farmers that can be worked with and the

number of different types of activities that can be implemented (for example,

opening up the possibility of having group responsibility for paying back of

loans or undertaking collective marketing of production);

provide a forum in which everyone involved in rural development

(farmers, facilitators, researchers, planners, NGOs, and the private

commercial sector) can interact together, which is increasingly being

recognised as being important if efficient agricultural development is going

to take place;

provide a good focal point for organizing activities (such as workshops

and field days);

provide a useful way of collecting and exchanging information on all

types of matters

GROUP DYNAMICS

KVK has tried various methodologies of transfer of technologies

among the farming communities in the operational areas. After working on different

concept of technology transfer, KVK has developed selected methodologies which

found very effective and shown significant results. A brief description about these

methodologies is furnished as below:

Innovative Farmers Club (Prayog Pariwar) - KVK has always

focused on group approach for dissemination of technology among the farming

community. During the year 1996, KVK has taken steps to form the groups of

innovative farmers who are adopting innovative technologies in different

commodities in the district at their field. This group was named as Prayog Pariwar

comprising of 712 Innovative Farmers from the district. Subgroups were formed

commodity wise of the farmers in Prayog Pariwar. This group used to fine-tune the

technology suitable for the particular location or farming situation. This concept

helped to KVK to refine technologies for various commodities. We can quote the

examples where the fine tuning was made in pruning techniques in drumstick,

Fertigation techniques in grapes, planting methods in sugarcane, support system in

pomegranate etc. Also technologies developed by these farmers were found very

useful for its horizontal spreading among the non-member farmers. The Prayog

Pariwar basically worked on exchange of ideas and experiments being carried out

by them with other farmers.

Kisan Mandal (Farmers Club) – For faster dissemination of fine

tuned technology at village level was a difficult task. To overcome

this difficulty, KVK has adopted the concept of formation of Farmers

Club during 2000-2001. A village level group of farmers from

different enterprises were brought together under the name of

Farmers Club. At present about 123 Farmers Clubs are functioning

in the operational area.

Each club consists of 20-25 members

including farmwomen, rural youth and artisans from various

enterprises like agriculture, horticulture, dairying, animal husbandry

and non-farm sector. To achieve improvement in agricultural

productivity and employment generation in rural areas, the Farmers

Club has found very effective tool. These clubs are linked with

financial institutions as well as other line departments. KVK has

been carrying out various programmes and activities through these

clubs

Keeping these clubs at center, KVK has developed concept

called three-tier model. At Apex Level the members of Prayog

Pariwar are involved. Whereas at middle level Farmers Clubs are

playing active role and at micro level the messages are passed

through SHGs. Through this model, work like planning,

implementation, follow-up, monitoring, evaluation and feedback

related to implemented programmes is also taken care by these clubs.

These clubs are utilized for communication of technologies from

KVK to grass root level. The Farmers Clubs also develop their

annual action plan based on problems and needs of the respective

villages and based on their action plan, KVK is planning and

implementing various activities.

Self Help Groups (SHGs) – Women are playing very active

role in the agriculture development. However their active

participation in technology perception and dissemination was

not visible. During the initial stage, KVK received very poor

response from the farmwomen. Therefore, KVK started to

establish SHGs of women from the year 2001-2002. At

present KVK has established 455 SHGs in the operational

areas and in each SHG 15-20 women are the members.

Besides technology transfer, credit mobilization was also the

main objective as they are in need of credit for adoption of

technologies. All SHGs are linked with nationalized and co-

operative banks. Due to credit availability from SHGs, the

adoption of technologies is enhanced. SHGs are adopting

agriculture technology for improving production besides

starting suitable agro-based enterprises for self-employment

generation.

Book:

1. Women in Agriculture : M.S. Randhawa

Web References/ Image references:

1. http://knowledgecentre.drwa.org.in/womenagri.htm

2. http://farmech.gov.in/Women%20Friendaly%20Equipment-

With%20photographs.pdf

3. http://collections.infocollections.org/ukedu/uk/d/Jii01ee/8.1.html

4. http://www.kvk.pravara.com/extn/gd.htm