Women’s Growing Role in Agriculture

Syllabus: GS3/ Agriculture 

Context

• Maharashtra passed the Women Farmers’ Empowerment Bill in July 2026, providing women with independent recognition as farmers irrespective of land ownership through a Woman Farmer Certificate.

Women’s Growing Role in Agriculture

• Women plays a major role in Indian agriculture, but their contribution is often treated as an extension of household work rather than as independent economic activity.
• According to recent PLFS-based estimates cited in the debate, agriculture employed around 110 million women and 127 million men in 2025, indicating near gender parity in agricultural employment.
• Nearly three-fourths of rural women workers are engaged in agriculture, making the sector a major source of livelihood for rural women.
• However, a substantial proportion of women’s agricultural work remains unpaid family work, limiting their economic independence and formal recognition.
• The Agricultural Census 2015–16 recorded women as holders of only about 14% of operational agricultural land holdings.

Issues Faced by Women Farmers

• Fragmented databases: Agriculture, land, credit and welfare databases do not always provide a comprehensive picture of women’s agricultural participation.
• Social barriers: Patriarchal norms restrict women’s control over land, income, machinery and agricultural decision-making.
• Land-record dependence: Linking farmer identification primarily with land records disproportionately affects women without titles.
• Absence of a unified definition: Different agricultural programmes use different eligibility criteria to identify beneficiaries.

Initiatives taken by the Government 

• The National Policy for Farmers, 2007 adopted a broader understanding of farmers that extends beyond landowners to persons involved in agricultural production.
• The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission has organised millions of rural women into Self-Help Groups (SHGs).
  • SHGs can serve as an important institutional channel for providing women with access to credit, livelihood opportunities, training and collective agricultural activities.
• Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana, implemented under the rural livelihoods framework, focuses on strengthening the capacities and livelihoods of women farmers.
• Kudumbashree in Kerala has promoted collective farming through women’s groups, creating an alternative institutional pathway for women’s participation in agriculture.

Way Ahead

• National Women Farmer Registry: India needs a gender-disaggregated farmer database that identifies farmers based on actual agricultural activity rather than land ownership alone.
• Integrate Farmer IDs: Women identified as farmers should receive Farmer IDs that can be linked with agricultural schemes, credit, insurance, extension services and market platforms.
• Women’s Access to Productive Assets: Recognition should be accompanied by access to institutional credit, agricultural machinery, quality inputs, extension services, markets and digital services.

Source: TH