Blog
Team Social Xleration, 24th September 2021
The Context
Women in Rural India are a major and important part of the agricultural system. According to Oxfam India, 85 percent of rural women in India are involved in agriculture. However, despite being a major contributor to the agricultural output, the farm system is highly tilted against women. They just own 13 percent of the land. Besides property rights, the discrimination extends to farm work, which is full of drudgery for the women. The majority of farm work done by women requires frequent bending, which causes considerable pain in the legs, neck, hands, and back. These health problems can result in a high number of miscarriages, infant deaths, and premature births. When female farmers get home from work, they are expected to maintain their homes and care for their children in addition to farm chores. In this situation, it is critical to place a strong emphasis on female-friendly farm implements and provide them with access.
Women Farmer Friendly Tools
Some efforts are visible on this front. The Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (ICAR-CIAE), Nabi Bagh, Bhopal which is part of the apex research and education body the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) lists one of its objectives as “to study human-machine-environment interactions to generate data for developing ergonomical guidelines leading to development of agricultural tools and equipment for reduced drudgery” among others. Its website list numerous women-friendly farm tools and equipment that have been developed in the country. A few such tools comprise Improved Bamboo Ladder for apple harvesting, which help the women workers pluck the apples comfortably; Pedal Operated Paddy Thresher, which assists in reducing drudgery in threshing operation as bending posture is avoided and arms are not required to be raised above shoulder height; Improved Sickle, which due to its lightweight diminishes the labor and Improved Large Cardamom Harvesting Knife, which enables to lessen the force required in operation, to minimize accident chances, and decreases the toil. The other improved tools include Groundnut Stripper, Four Row Direct Paddy Seeder, Three Tow Rice Transplanter, BSKKV Rotary Arecanut Dehusker, Fertilizer Broadcaster, Hanging Type Grain Cleaner, Fruit Harvester, Scissor Type Tea Plucker and Hand Ridger.
Efforts to Propagate Female Farmers Friendly Implements
Under a government scheme, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University’s Community Science College and Research Institute some time back created a resource center to equip female farm laborers with gender-friendly technologies. The ICAR’s All India Coordinated Research Project established the center in Periyaillanthikulam village in Alanganallur block of Madurai district. The center supplies equipment that has been specifically created to meet the demands of women farmers. These include a hand-held seedling transplanter that can be used without bending and a sugarcane de-trasher that removes green tops and dry trash from harvested cane while keeping workers safe. Other equipment includes a fertilizer broadcaster and an enhanced ring cutter for easy and comfortable flower and vegetable picking.
In 2018, Mahindra and Mahindra, the ICAR, the Central Institute for Women in Agriculture, and NGO PRADAN joined forces to launch a project named “Empowering women farmers via marketing of gender-friendly agricultural equipment”. The project began in the Odisha districts of Mayurbhanj and Koraput. Gender-based farm equipment was adopted to help lessen women’s drudgery in rice, ragi (millet), and vegetable farming in order to boost their work efficiency and income. Demonstrations of the operation, repair, and maintenance of these gender-friendly farm tools, including power weeder, hauler, thresher, sprayer, and other innovative machinery were held. They now use markers, transplanters, and finger weeders for weeding paddy and vegetables, sickles for harvesting, threshers, and winnowers for harvesting and post-harvest operations, and hanging type grain cleaners for cleaning large quantities of grains. Farm tools allowed women to have more free time because they shortened their work time.
Conclusion
Gender perceptions such as weight, ease of use for women, complexity, and labor-saving benefits for women must be taken into account when creating women farmers friendly tools. Besides, awareness and multiple partnerships such as the one between Mahindra and Mahindra, ICAR, PRADAN, and Central Institute for Women in Agriculture are the need of the hour for effective scaling up and reaching as many women farmers as possible. However, the biggest change needed is the attitude of the society and laws ensuring equal access to land and resources to women, which will provide an equal say and larger voice in the farm-related decision-making and wider society.