{"id":85372,"date":"2026-09-23T18:08:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=85372"},"modified":"2026-09-23T18:09:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:39:34","slug":"women-growing-role-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/23-09-2026\/women-growing-role-agriculture","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Growing Role in Agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Agriculture&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Maharashtra passed the <strong>Women Farmers\u2019 Empowerment Bill in July 2026<\/strong>, providing women with independent recognition as farmers irrespective of land ownership through a <strong>Woman Farmer Certificate.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Women\u2019s Growing Role in Agriculture<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Women plays a <strong>major role in Indian agriculture<\/strong>, but their contribution is often treated as an extension of household work rather than as independent economic activity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>According to recent<strong> PLFS-based estimates cited in the debate, <\/strong>agriculture employed around<strong> 110 million women and 127 million men in 2025,<\/strong> indicating near gender parity in agricultural employment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Nearly three-fourths<\/strong> of rural women workers <strong>are engaged in agriculture, <\/strong>making the sector a major source of livelihood for rural women.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However, a substantial proportion of women\u2019s agricultural work remains unpaid family work, limiting their economic independence and formal recognition.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Agricultural Census 2015\u201316<\/strong> recorded women as holders of only about <strong>14%<\/strong> of operational agricultural land holdings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Issues Faced by Women Farmers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Fragmented databases: <\/strong>Agriculture, land, credit and welfare databases do not always provide a comprehensive picture of women&#8217;s agricultural participation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Social barriers: <\/strong>Patriarchal norms restrict women&#8217;s control over land, income, machinery and agricultural decision-making.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Land-record dependence: <\/strong>Linking farmer identification primarily with land records disproportionately affects women without titles.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Absence of a unified definition:<\/strong> Different agricultural programmes use different eligibility criteria to identify beneficiaries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Initiatives taken by the Government&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The National Policy for Farmers, 2007<\/strong> adopted a broader understanding of farmers that extends beyond landowners to persons involved in agricultural production.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana\u2013National Rural Livelihoods Mission<\/strong> has organised millions of rural women into<strong> Self-Help Groups (SHGs).<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>SHGs can serve as an important institutional channel for providing women with<strong> access to credit, livelihood opportunities, training and collective agricultural activities.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana<\/strong>, implemented under the rural livelihoods framework, focuses on strengthening the capacities and livelihoods of women farmers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Kudumbashree in Kerala <\/strong>has promoted collective farming through women&#8217;s groups, creating an alternative institutional pathway for women&#8217;s participation in agriculture.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>National Women Farmer Registry: <\/strong>India needs a gender-disaggregated farmer database that identifies farmers based on actual agricultural activity rather than land ownership alone.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Integrate Farmer IDs: <\/strong>Women identified as farmers should receive Farmer IDs that can be linked with agricultural schemes, credit, insurance, extension services and market platforms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Women&#8217;s Access to Productive Assets: <\/strong>Recognition should be accompanied by access to institutional credit, agricultural machinery, quality inputs, extension services, markets and digital services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/business\/Economy\/towards-recognising-women-farmers\/article71497026.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\n<strong> <\/p>\n<p>Context<\/p>\n<p> <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">\n<p>Maharashtra passed the Women Farmers\u2019 Empowerment Bill in July 2026, providing women with independent recognition as farmers irrespective of land ownership through a Woman Farmer Certificate.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\n<strong> <\/p>\n<p>Women\u2019s Growing Role in Agriculture<\/p>\n<p><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/23-09-2026\/women-growing-role-agriculture\"   class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85372"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85374,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85372\/revisions\/85374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}