Business of Agriculture March April 2019 Edition | Page 6

WOMEN FARMERS:
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
By: Malini Saba *
A
Many women
farmers who
have started
with the bare
minimum
resources but
with the help
of KVK and
other self-help
groups; they
have changed
their way of
farming
ccording to the United Nations, women
comprise approximately 43 percent of the
world’s agricultural labour force, but these
involvements only give them access to the labouring
part not to the decision-making areas like irrigation,
land management, and other agricultural cooperatives.
According to traditional policy makers or believers,
women are less efficient crop producers in agriculture.
Many studies conducted in different parts of the world
have revealed the data that talks about the issue of less
productivity, but the reasons behind the gap aren’t that
the woman is less efficient, instead the reason is lack of
proper resources, information, and access to facilities.
If proper guidance and education are provided to
women, many of them can change the scenarios in
their families. The issue of the gender gap is highly
acknowledged now by governments, scientists,
and farmers as the lost opportunities and potential
gains that could have been managed with the help
of gender equality on food security, livelihood and
other developments. The Indian government has
initiated various programs supporting women farmers
on various platforms like national television, radio,
the establishment of ‘Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK)’
and various other self-help groups where women
farmers are trained to learn new tactics and ways of
good farming.
I have come across many women farmers who have
started with the bare minimum resources but with
the help of KVK and other self-help groups; they
have changed their way of farming. They started
with a small farm that had a few lemon trees, cashew
plants and rubber trees but with proper guidance and
sustainable methods, they have now grown it into a
big earning business for themselves. Not just good
production of crops but they have also learned the
techniques to have disease management, nutrient
management and organic recycling. These women
are a big inspiration and example for people who still
believe that women are less productive farmers than
males. Despite this, women farmers are still facing
lots of challenges in the agriculture sector. This article
6 Business of Agriculture | March-April 2019 • Vol. V • Issue 2
will address some examples of those challenges and
will also suggest suitable options to eradicate them.
Challenges Faced by
Women in the Agricultural Sector
Many women entrepreneurs are changing the global
food security scenarios and are contributing to
economic growth but their challenges are twice the
men face in order to succeed in the industry.
When it comes to financial support or investment
factors they face more challenges due to the socio-
cultural beliefs among people. Farming and agriculture