{"id":91860,"date":"2026-03-09T17:21:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T11:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=91860"},"modified":"2026-03-09T17:21:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T11:51:05","slug":"women-in-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/women-in-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"Women in Agriculture, Role, Key Challenges, Impact"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Why in the News?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the world observes <\/span><b>International Women\u2019s Day on 8 March<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the need to recognise and empower women farmers has gained renewed attention.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moreover, 2026 has been declared as the <\/span><b>\u2018International Year of the Woman Farmer\u2019,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a global initiative led by the Food and Agriculture Organisation.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Role of Women in Agriculture<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women in agriculture form the backbone of India\u2019s farming sector, contributing a significant share of the workforce and performing the majority of farm-related tasks across crops, horticulture, animal husbandry, and post-harvest operations.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women constitute about <\/span><b>64% of India\u2019s agricultural workforce and are responsible for around 70% of all farm-related tasks.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Approximately <\/span><b>80% of rural women are engaged in agriculture, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">performing work across crops, horticulture, <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/animal-husbandry\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>animal husbandry<\/strong><\/a>, fisheries, and post-harvest activities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As per the <\/span><b>ICAR 2020 report<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, women\u2019s participation is 75% in crop production, 79% in horticulture, 51% in post-harvest operations, and 95% in animal husbandry and fisheries.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Structural Problems Faced by Women Farmers<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women perform a large share of agricultural work but are rarely recognised as farmers in law, policy, and land ownership. Because of this invisibility, they face barriers in accessing Land rights, Credit, Agricultural schemes, Extension services, Nutrition and food security benefits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Lack of Land Ownership\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Only 13.9% of agricultural land is in women\u2019s names due to patrilineal inheritance, social norms, limited legal awareness, and administrative hurdles.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Limited Access to Agricultural Resources\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Without legal recognition or land titles, women often face systemic barriers in accessing institutional credit, crop insurance, irrigation schemes, and agricultural extension services.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Limited Decision-Making Power<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women perform most farm operations, from sowing to harvesting, yet men control crucial decisions such as crop selection, sale of produce, and allocation of income.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This reduces women\u2019s agency and limits the benefits they could derive from their own labour.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Feminisation of Agriculture and Double Burden<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With men migrating for work, women are increasingly responsible for managing farms and household duties simultaneously.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This double burden leaves them overworked and stressed, making it difficult to maintain productivity and well-being.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Vulnerability to Climate Change<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women have limited access to climate information, resilient seeds, irrigation technology, and extension services.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This reduces their ability to adapt to heatwaves, erratic rainfall, and other climate risks, increasing their vulnerability.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Nutrition and Health Crisis<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many rural diets remain cereal-dominated and nutritionally poor, resulting in high levels of anemia and micronutrient deficiencies among women.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Food transfers through <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/public-distribution-system-pds\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Public Distribution Systems<\/strong><\/a> are cereal-centric, with uneven integration of pulses, millets, and nutrient-dense foods.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Poor maternal nutrition has intergenerational consequences, contributing to low birth weight, stunting and poor child development.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Way Forward<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Recognising women as farmers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in laws, policies and agricultural databases is essential to ensure their visibility and inclusion in development programmes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Strengthening women\u2019s land rights <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">through effective implementation of inheritance laws and promotion of joint land titles can improve their access to resources and institutional support.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Providing women farmers with access to institutional credit, crop insurance and irrigation facilities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can help improve agricultural productivity and economic security.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agricultural policies should promote <\/span><b>nutrition-sensitive farming <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by encouraging the cultivation and distribution of pulses, millets, fruits and vegetables through public programmes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Expanding access to agricultural technologies and labour-saving tools<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can reduce drudgery and improve the health and productivity of women farmers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Strengthening extension services and training programmes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can enhance women\u2019s knowledge of climate-resilient and sustainable agricultural practices.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Encouraging women\u2019s collectives, self-help groups and community-based initiatives <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">can strengthen their bargaining power and improve access to markets and resources.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Impact of Empowering Women Farmers<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agricultural scientist <\/span><b><i>M. S. Swaminathan <\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">emphasised the importance of women\u2019s participation across the agricultural value chain, including conservation, cultivation, consumption and commercialisation.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When women gain knowledge, rights, and institutional support, they can <\/span><b>drive climate-resilient, biodiversity-rich, and nutrition-sensitive agriculture.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Focusing on women in food security programmes <\/span><b>improves outcomes not just for them but for entire communities.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recognising women as farmers and ensuring their rights to land, resources, and food is key to building a <\/span><b>fair, resilient, and nourished India.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Women in agriculture play a vital role in India\u2019s farming sector. Know their contributions, key challenges like land rights and credit access, and policy solutions to empower women farmers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":91765,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[5961],"class_list":{"0":"post-91860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-studies","8":"tag-women-in-agriculture","9":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91860"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91876,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91860\/revisions\/91876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}