Feminisation of Agriculture 

Syllabus: GS3/Economy 

In News

• Women now constitute a major portion of India’s agricultural workforce, mainly because men are shifting to non-farm jobs.

Feminization of agriculture

• It refers to the increasing participation and leadership of women in the agriculture sector. 
• In India, women have always played a significant role in agriculture, whether as cultivators or laborers. 

Present Status and Trends 

• Agriculture employs nearly 46 per cent of the country’s workforce but contributes barely 17 to 18 per cent of its GDP. 
• Today, women make up almost 60% of India’s agricultural labour, a shift caused by more and more males transferring to non-farm jobs.
  • This has resulted to the feminisation of agriculture with more farming responsibilities for women, but little control over land and resources. 
• Across Asia, male migration and industrialisation have also boosted the importance of women in agriculture in Nepal and China, while land ownership is often concentrated in the hands of men. 

Key Reasons 

• Male Migration: Rural misery, declining farm land sizes, and variability in agricultural revenue have pushed male family members to relocate to metropolitan centers to seek non-farm jobs.
  • Women are left to oversee the family farm and household chores.
• Mechanisation and Menial Tasks: Men are primarily responsible for heavy machinery (e.g., tractors, harvesters), and female labourers are still relegated to manual and repetitive field work.
• Economic compulsion: Due to the economic distress of their families, women often become wage labourers on surrounding farms to augment household income.

Benefits 

• Economic Empowerment: Women in rural regions can become financially independent and manage household expenses through farming and SHG participation.
• Better Family Well-Being: Evidence demonstrates that women’s income is more likely to be used for children’s education, family healthcare and nutrition.
• Sustainable farming: Women have preserved the traditional knowledge of the ecology that promotes natural farming, seed preservation, crop diversity and integrated animal management.

Challenges Faced by Women Farmers

• No land title rights and Credit issues: Cultural and structural restrictions prevent women from obtaining land titles.
  • Agricultural loans from financial institutions are secured against land, and women are forced to borrow from informal moneylenders at exorbitant rates of interest.
• Lack of Market Linkages: Social conventions limit women’s mobility, preventing their direct negotiation at Mandis (APMCs) or fair market pricing.
• Triple Burden of Work: Women are caught in a “triple burden” of work – farm operations, home care duties and child-rearing – resulting in significant time poverty and health pressure.
• Wage Inequality: Daily salaries of female agricultural labourers are always less than those of male agricultural labourers for the same number of hours of fieldwork.

Various Initiatives

• The government has launched a number of projects to extend financing to women farmers, horticulture, pulses, and direct financial support.
• Under the Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS), short-term Kisan lending Card loans of up to ₹3 lakh are provided at 7% interest.
  • The collateral-free lending limit has been increased to ₹2 lakh from January 2025 with initiatives to increase women’s access. 
• The Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) helps farmers (particularly women) in horticulture production and post-harvest infrastructure. 
• The Dalhan Aatmanirbharta Mission, with an outlay of ₹11,440 crore for 2025–26 to 2030–31, supports climate-resilient pulses, storage and assured procurement, including at least 20% of financing for women farmers. 
• PM-KISAN also provides annual payment of ₹6,000 through DBT to qualifying landholding farmer households, where women beneficiaries account for over 25% of the total benefits, thus improving the financial security of women.
• Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) is intended to boost agricultural infrastructure.
  • It focuses on post-harvest facilities including storage and logistics, helping farmers reduce losses, store product and get higher pricing.
    • Special emphasis has also been given to women farmers under the initiative 
• Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI) scheme, is a part of the Integrated Scheme for Agricultural Marketing (ISAM), helps to develop and upgrade rural godowns and warehouses.
  • Women farmers, SC/ST promoters, FPOs and beneficiaries in North-Eastern and hilly areas get 33.33% subsidy, whereas farmers in plain areas are given 25% subsidy.
• Namo Drone Didi Scheme intends to supply 15,000 drones to women SHGs in 2023-24 to 2025-26, with an outlay of ₹1,261 crore. 80% financial help (up to ₹8 lakh) and training of farmers and drone pilots/assistants to offer agricultural drone services by women and generate new employment prospects. 
• The Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM) also facilitates women’s access to farm technology through support to Custom Hiring Centers besides 50% help up to ₹5 lakh for purchase of drones by qualifying women farmers.
• The National Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) supports scientific beekeeping via training, skill development and capacity building, allowing women to obtain additional income and employment from honey and other bee products. 
• Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM): DAY-NRLM works toward women’s economic empowerment through SHGs, access to formal financing, self-employment and diverse agricultural livelihoods. 

Conclusion 

• The feminisation of agriculture reflects a major transformation in India’s rural economy, with women increasingly serving as the backbone of agricultural production while remaining disadvantaged in terms of land ownership, income, institutional recognition and decision-making power.
• The challenge is to transform women from merely agricultural labourers into independent farmers, resource owners and decision-makers through joint land titling, accessible and collateral-free credit, gender-sensitive extension services, entrepreneurship support, women-friendly and drudgery-reducing machinery, collective institutions and social protection. 
• Such measures can turn feminisation from a symptom of rural distress into an opportunity for women’s empowerment, inclusive agricultural growth, food security and sustainable rural development.

Source : DTE