Don’t Ignore the Women Farmers

Context: There are apprehensions that recently passed farm laws would further widen the gender gap in the agriculture sector.

Challenges of women farmers:

• Gender Gap in Agriculture sector:
  • Legal rights of land are denied: due to cultural, social and religious forces.
    • 2% of rural women are engaged in farming activities but only 12.8% own landholdings (Agriculture Census).
    • 83% of agricultural land in the country is inherited by male members of the family and less than 2% by their female counterparts (The India Human Development Survey Report).
    • Socio-economic realities: 81% of women agricultural labourers belong to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes, so they also contribute to the largest share of casual and landless labourers.
• Exclusion by the state: Non-recognition by terming them as ‘cultivators’ or ‘agricultural labourers’ but not ‘farmer’; results in exclusion of women from various government schemes.
• Lack of rights: As guaranteed to recognised farmers such as loans for cultivation, loan waivers, crop insurance, subsidies or even compensation to their families in cases where they commit suicide.
• Gendered access to support systems: such as storage facilities, transportation costs, and agricultural credit. There is also gendered access to inputs and markets.
• Concerns with new farm laws: with respect to women -
  • May deepen gender inequality: as no provision to reduce disparity or alleviate their distress.
  • Lack of assurances: in the form of Minimum Support Price (MSP).
  • Non-beneficial contract farming: due to lack of skills to negotiate agreements with traders and corporate entities.
  • No safety net or adequate redressal mechanism: may lead to corporatization of agriculture which may force the small marginal and medium farmers to sell their land and become wage labourers.

Conclusion: The government must not forget the troubles of our women farmers and ensure equal rights and protection to the women in the agriculture sector.