Do Not Ignore the Role of the Woman Livestock Farmer

Why in News?

• On the International Day of Rural Women (October 15),the article emphasis upon the need to recognise the role of women in livestock rearing, and to include women in all facets of livestock development, be it breeding, veterinary care, extension services, training or access to credit and markets.

 

Background

• It is widely recognised that the majority of women workers in rural areas (72%) are engaged in agricultural activities.
• However, with the exception of participation in dairy co-operatives, specifically in milk marketing, women’s role in the livestock economy is not as widely known.
• Livestock economy refers to the management and care of animals in which the genetic qualities and behavior of animals are further developed for profit.

 

Statistics

• Overall picture: The livestock sector is one of the most rapidly growing components of the rural economy of India, accounting for 5% of national income and 28% of agricultural GDP in 2018-19.
• Growth over the years: As per the Economic Survey-2021, the contribution of Livestock in total agriculture and allied sector Gross Value Added (at Constant Prices) has increased from 24.32% (2014-15) to 28.63% (2018-19).
  • In the last six years, the livestock sector grew at 7.9% (at constant prices) while crop farming grew by 2%.
• Women livestock share: There were five million women members in dairy co-operatives in 2015-16, and this increased further to 5.4 million in 2020-21.
  • Women accounted for 31% of all members of dairy producer cooperatives in 2020-21. In India, the number of women’s dairy cooperative societies rose from 18,954 in 2012 to 32,092 in 2015-16.
  • The share of women employment in livestock sector is around 90% in Punjab and Haryana where dairying is a prominent activity and animals are stall-fed.

 

Survey findings

• A time use survey in a village of Karnataka showed that a poor peasant woman spent around 3.5 hours on livestock-related tasks.
  • These livestock-related tasks include collecting dung from the cow shed, milking the cow, sweeping and washing the shed, grazing the cattle and feeding them
  • Given this sporadic nature of work undertaken for short spells throughout the day, the woman herself may not report “livestock raising” as an economic activity.
• Data from village surveys conducted by the Foundation for Agrarian Studies in Karnataka showed that in every household that owned a milch animal, a woman spent two to eight hours a day on animal rearing depending on factors as follows:
  • Number and type of animals, and
  • Season (in the lean season, when fodder was not easily available, more time was spent on grazing).
  • Additionally, livestock rearing was found as an occupation of older, less educated, women in the village.

 

Core problems

The absence of gender-disaggregated data makes women livestock farmers invisible to policymakers, as illustrated below:

• Under-enumeration: The recent employment surveys such as the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) fail to collect data on specific activities of persons engaged primarily in domestic duties. So, the undercounting of women in the livestock economy continues.
• Scarce access to extension services: According to official reports, 80,000 livestock farmers were trained across the country in 2021, but no data is available on how many were women farmers.
  • In village surveys, only a few women in each village reported receiving any information from extension workers.
• Lack loan service: Village surveys noted that women in poor households, without collateral to offer to banks, found it difficult to avail loans to purchase livestock.
  • Around 15 lakh new Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) was provided to livestock farmers under the KCC scheme during 2020-22. However, no women specific information is found.
• No applied knowledge: Women livestock farmers lacked technical knowledge on choice of animals (breeding) and veterinary care.
  • According to village surveys, men invariably performed these specific tasks and took animals for artificial insemination.
• No governance skill: Village studies showed that women were not aware of the composition and functions of dairy boards and men exercised decisions even in women-only dairy cooperatives.
  • Further, the voice of women from landless or poor peasant Scheduled Caste households was rarely heard.

 

Concluding correct estimates

• An underestimation: As conventional labour force surveys fail to accurately record women’s work in livestock-raising, one way to adjust official statistics for this error is by calculating an augmented work participation rate.
• Augmented work participation rate: In addition to women reporting themselves as engaged in economic activity, this estimate includes women who reported themselves as “engaged in domestic duty” or care work for the major part of the year but spent time on specific activities such as kitchen gardening, household dairy/poultry, paddy husking, etc.
• Illustration: As per Employment and Unemployment Survey of 2011-12, 12 million rural women were workers in livestock-raising.
  • However, with the augmented definition, an estimated around 49 million rural women were engaged in livestock raising.
  • Hence, women actually engaged in the livestock economy were four times the official estimate and a sizeable section of the rural population.
• Attestation: Statistics from India’s first national Time Use Survey in 2019 confirm this finding.
  • By recording all activities done in the past 24 hours (be it cooking or working in the fields), 11% of rural women or 48 million women were engaged in animal rearing.
• Policy support: The National Livestock Policy (NLP) of 2013, aimed at increasing livestock production and productivity in a sustainable manner, rightly states that around 70% of the labour for the livestock sector comes from women and thus policy focuses on women empowerment.
• No mission target: However, National Livestock Mission (NLM) of 2014-15 does not propose any schemes or programmes specific to women livestock farmers.
  • The NLM 2014-15 was initiated for the development of the livestock sector with a focus on the availability of feed and fodder, providing extension services, and improved flow of credit to livestock farmers.
• Information access: Surveys showed that women wanted information regarding extension services but wanted it near their home and at times when they were free, thus it should be roped in accordingly.

 

Earlier initiatives in livestock sector

• Rashtriya Gokul Mission: It aims to develop and conserve indigenous breeds of bovine population. This is important to enhance milk production and to make it more remunerative to the farmers.
• National Livestock Mission: Its objective is to ensure quantitative and qualitative improvement in livestock production systems and capacity building of all stakeholders.
• National Artificial Insemination Programme: To suggest novel methods of bringing about impregnation in female breeds. Also, to prevent the spread of certain diseases which are genital in nature, thereby enhancing the efficiency of the breed.
• National Cattle and Buffalo Breeding Project: To genetically upgrade important indigenous breeds on priority basis with a focus on development and conservation.
• Animal Husbandry Startup Grand Challenge: To appreciate innovations coming from the villages to expand the dairy sector in India.
• Raised funding: Allocation for the Rashtriya Gokul Mission and National Programme for Dairy Development has been increased by 20% in Budget 2022-23.

 

Conclusion

Women’s labour is critical to the livestock economy. It follows then that women should be included in every stage of decision-making and development of the livestock sector. Today, women livestock workers remain invisible on account of their absence in official statistics. This must be corrected.

 

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Source: Do Not Ignore the Role of the Woman Livestock Farmer