Women in Agriculture-Emerging Challenges and Opportunities
SIRD Page 0
Odisha Livelihoods Mission
Workshop on “Women in Agriculture-Emerging
16 February 2015
Organized by
Panchayati Raj DepartmentGovernment of Odisha
Bhubaneswar
Women in Agriculture-Emerging Challenges and Opportunities
Table of Contents
AGENDA OF THE WORKSHOP2
1. BACKGROUND.................................................................................................3
1.1 MKSP (Agriculture) Progress in Odisha......................................................3
1.2 Objective of the workshop..........................................................................3
2. SESSION-1.......................................................................................................4
3. SESSION-2.......................................................................................................6
3.1 Experience of the participants....................................................................6
4. SESSION-3.....................................................................................................10
5. SESSION-4.....................................................................................................12
5.1 Interventions for Women on Agriculture & Allied Sector Livelihood..........13
6. SESSION-5.....................................................................................................15
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Women in Agriculture-Emerging Challenges and Opportunities
BACKGROUNDMahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) is a special program initiated for
livelihood enhancement and vulnerability reduction started in 2010-11, by Ministry
of Rural Development (MoRD). The program envisages empowering women in
agriculture by making systematic investments to enhance their participation and
productivity, and also to create and sustain agriculture based livelihoods of rural
women. The program is being implemented by National Rural Livelihood Mission
(NRLM) in partnership with State Departments/CSOs as implementing partners
(PIAs) across the country.
Under NRLM, the core agenda of MKSP is to (i) create sustainable livelihood
institutions around agriculture and allied activities (ii) create sector-specific
geography-specific best package of practices and (iii) create a wide pool of
community resource persons for scaling up livelihood interventions in the entire
country
1.1 MKSP (Agriculture) Progress in Odisha
The monitoring and evaluation of MKSP is currently being looked after by
Odisha Rural Marketing and Development Society (ORMAS), an autonomous body
under the Panchayati Raj Department. The total project cost under MKSP
(Agriculture) is Rs.38.50 crores for three years which covers 35,450 Mahila Kisans
of nine (9) districts of Odisha. The districts are Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri,
Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Khordha and Kandhamal. Under
MKSP (Agriculture) proposals of seven PIAs have been sanctioned by MoRD.
PIAs under MKSP are:
SODI (South Odisha Development Initiative) Consortium-Lead-Madhyam
Foundation
Life Academy of Vocational Studies (LAVS)
Harsha Trust
Madhyam Foundation
Organisation for Rural Reconstruction & Integrated Social Service Activities
(ORRISSA)
M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF)
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Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN)
1.2 Objective of the workshop
To facilitate creative interaction and discuss relevant experiences of
challenges and opportunities faced by women farmers
To derive means to tackle the challenges in an effective manner
PARTICIPANTS
About 70 participants attended the workshop which includes ORMAS and OLM,
officials, partners of MKSP and women farmers from their respective areas. Apart
from that academicians and resource persons were also invited from various
reputed institutions as Xavier’s Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) and
National Mission Management Unit (NMMU). Field practitioners, scientists from
Directorate of Research of Women in Agriculture (DRWA), officials from other line
departments such as OTELP (Odisha Tribal Empowerment Livelihood Program),
IMAGE (Institution on Management of Agricultural Extension) etc. and various
NGO representatives such as IGSSS, CRS, CARR etc. who have ample
experience in agriculture practices were present in the workshop for sharing their
knowledge. International experts from The Second Chance Foundation were also
present to share their rich experience.
1. SESSION-1
Shri. B.N.Das, Executive Director, ORMAS welcomed all the participants and
started the gracious event by taking the introduction of the participants followed by
introducing Shri Pranab Jyoti Nath, IAS, State Mission Director cum CEO; Odisha Livelihoods Mission .Director, OLM described the workshop as a
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learning tool for all and briefly described the objectives of the workshop, hence
setting the tone of the workshop.
Creating awareness about the developed technologies, what problems Mahila
Kisans are facing and what solution can be found out to these problems are the
objective which this workshop should achieve. He requested every participant to
speak about their experience and problems. Before the experience sharing by the
Mahila Kisans, a short movie was shown which was developed by National Rural
Livelihoods Mission. The highlights of the movie is as:
Agriculture is a major source of Livelihood for the majority of the rural poor
in India. Women constitute 33% of the agricultural labour force and 48% of
the self employed farmers in India.
MKSP was started by National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) to
improve the status of women in agriculture and to enhance the opportunities
for empowerment. MKSP is strategized in a manner to target the Poorest of
the Poor and the most vulnerable women such as SC/ST, minorities,
landless and Primitive Tribal Groups.
Provision of a complete end-to end service through linking up women
farmers with community based institutions providing access to a complete
package of options from credit, insurance and inputs, to procurement, value
addition and marketing of produce is the focus to make it as holistic as
possible.
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As per case studies ,by Creating Sustainable Agricultural Livelihood
opportunities and adoption of 2 livelihood streams by a Mahila Kisan will
result in an additional income of Rs 50,000/- to Rs 85000/- per annum.
After the screening of the movie, which clearly showed the benefits of being a part
of MKSP, the introduction of the Guest of Honour took place. Dr. Joan Mencher, Chairperson, Second Chance Foundation, USA, has been working in India
since 1958 on Women and agriculture. Mr. Frank Southworth, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania also accompanied her to
the event.
After the round of introductions, Mr. Debaraj Behera, National Mission Manager,
Livelihoods presented a brief summary of the initiation of MKSP. In spite of
women contributing 70% of their time to agriculture in India, nowhere, Mahila Kisan
gets mentioned. The "Programme for the Empowerment of Women Farmers" i.e.
the "Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP)", was initiated by Prof. M.S.
Swaminathan for the widows of farmers who had committed suicide, in Wardha
and Yavatmal districts of Vidarbha region, in 2007. The programme aims at
creating an environment of hope that will help alleviate the mood of distress and
empower women farmers to make key decisions pertaining to their agricultural
practices and their households.
The empowerment measures cover a wide range of areas related to: enhancing
the productivity, profitability and sustainability of small-scale rain-fed farming;
promoting household food security; strengthening institutions at the grassroots;
and creating awareness on rights and entitlements. There are various NGOS who
work towards sustainable Agriculture, which can be a model and can be used
effectively as a convergence tool.
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2. SESSION-2
a. Experience of the participants
The women farmers present at the meeting were indescribable. They narrated
their experiences flawlessly. They addressed the problems they face during their
course of action. They tried to share and amalgamate their experience and
suggestions, and to find out the solution out of this.
In spite of various problems, the women were very satisfied with their
achievements. Some women started it single handed which inspired other women
to go for the process. The major problem lies in taking people to confidence. The
adoption process is very slow. Still the process is going on and women are slowly
adopting agriculture. Women of all area have gained success in using the organic
method in agriculture. The use of organic methods in agriculture provides them
fresh vegetables for a healthy life. The concept of kitchen garden has gained a
new turn with increasing level of participation by women in the field of agriculture,
thus solving their nutritional security needs.
Women use local resources such as cow dung and household waste to make bio
fertilizers. Agriculture in organic method, which seemed to be a very difficult task is
proving to be a reality with the confidence, hard work, sincerity of these women
farmers.
Women farmers cited some problems like lack of support at their home, shortage
of water, time management with home and work, lack of stamina, difficulty in
collection of material for organic fertilizer, non- availability of seeds on proper time,
hilly land etc. Maximum women face the problems of back pain during the sapling
stage. In case of pregnant women, this process becomes all the more strainful..
There should be training on capacity building and some implements for drudgery
reduction should also be encouraged.
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Despite of all the problems, women were very proud to be a part of the process
which provides them financial and psychological security and above all it gave
them their identification as Mahila Kisans.
After the experience sharing of the women farmers, the PIA (Project Implementing
Agencies) presented issues related to their work.
Working in remote areas, credit accessibility, climate change, availability of funds
in time, health problems of women farmers, lack of convergence are the major
problems cited by the PIA members. They suggested a discussion by the
Government on this. Crop planting, popularization of organic products, plantation,
promotion of kitchen garden, disease control and technical protocol training, crop
intensification model, integrated pest management system with organic products,
increase agriculture with local resources etc are some of the best practices
described by the PIA members.
Some of the issues/suggestions as mentioned by the PIAs are as summarized
below
Timely approval of the decisions made and timely release of funds .With
untimely release of funds, the crop planning takes a set-back
Frequent interaction at the district level, with PD/Collectors for increasing
awareness of the MKSP program
Special attention to the health factor
Convergence with other line departments
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They requested the authority to get into the issues and find some solutions to it. To
which Sh, Das and Sh, Behera responded that appropriate action would be taken
for the needful. Mr. Debraj also viewed that our extension is weak for proper
implementation of the programs and this needs to be strengthened.
3. SESSION-3
Dr. Joan Mencher started her valuable speech with praise for Tamil Nadu and
Andhra Pradesh who really do tremendous job in the field of agriculture. She also
cited the example of Kerala and Tamil Nadu which run Farmers Training Schools.
In her words, it is a very difficult task to change the mindset or psychology of
people, but it is seen that women are more interested to learn than men. Her
valuable suggestions included:-
1. Planting more trees:- In an age, when temperature is reaching its highest,
we need to plant trees to save society. Climate can make a big difference in
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Quotes from Women Farmers:
“When I wanted to start, my father did not agree with me that we can get more benefits
with less investment in SRI method. I started with I acre of land. I got one quintal in ½
acre.” – Mahila Kisan from Malkangiri district
“People first denied adopting organic agriculture practices. I started by myself with mung
dal and chakunda seeds. Seeing my results, people started to understand and accept
gradually. My area is one of the hilliest area. So, we face the problem of lack of water
and soil conservation”. –Mahila Kisan from Koraput
Quotes from Partner Agencies
“Major challenge in working with the people in remote areas is that do not accept
technology easily. Climate change, erratic rainfall in Odisha is another major external
factor which affect crops and farmers morale. Phailin and Hud Hud have been
devastating in their own ways. Proper weather forecasting and meteorological data is the
need of the hour.”
Women in Agriculture-Emerging Challenges and Opportunities
agriculture. In Sahara, People plan to conserve tress. When we plant a tree,
there is some water under the tree. This way, we can conserve water and
trees also.
2. Farmers field school: - There should be farmers field school in each area
to train the farmers and fulfil their queries.
3. Potato Eyes Planting:- Listening to the problem of non-availability of seeds
on time, she suggested for potato eyes planting, so that there will be no
dependency on Government for seeds.
4. Women agricultural officer: - There should be more number of women
agricultural officers. It would be easy for the women farmers to interact with
them. We have to increase the number of women in agriculture.
5. Encourage educated women for agriculture:- It will mobilize agriculture if
educated girls will be involved in it and they can mobilize other women
6. Women earnings spent on quality of life:- Dr. Joan made a study in
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and found that the income of women has
more impact on the family than the income of the man. Women emphasize
on health, nutrition and education etc. so, it is definitely increasing the
quality of life of the family members.
7. High nutrition for women:- Women should get higher nutritional value food
, so that they can go out for work. Generally, women are more anaemic and
keeping good health is one of the most important aspect.
While answering the questions like why SRI is successful in some areas and not
working in others and the solution to the problems women are facing while farming.
Answering the first question Dr. Joan presented the example of U.S where parents
prefer to give the land to their daughters as they will take care of them and their
land also but, in Kerala, even if the land is in the name of the woman, but the
power lies in the hands of male member of the family. If women will have right
over the land, agriculture in India will also develop.
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Answering the second question of women facing difficulties, she suggested
good and nutritious food is necessary for leading a healthy life. The women
farmers have control over their income. This satisfaction motivates them to go for
farming and, they should stop negligence to their health.
4. SESSION-4
P.K. MOHANTY, LIVELIHOODS EXPERT, OTELP ODISHA, presented his paper
on Empowering Women in Agriculture under OTELP program. He presented the
following interventions of OTELP.
Allocation of land for women.
Provide safe drinking water to every household.
To attract women to agriculture.
Address the issues of seeds conservation, communication and education
problem.
Develop commercial vegetable cultivation.
By 2016, it targets to provide safe drinking water in 50% villages. There will be poly
green home which will make the marketing easy. It stresses more on sweet potato
which is good for iron deficiency and on turmeric also which has an international
market.
a. Interventions for Women in Agriculture & Allied Livelihood Sector
Livestock & Aquaculture
Support for Mother Chick Unit
Support for Backward poultry
Support for Individual poultry unit.
Support for Goatery
Promotion of Pisciculture
Grant of Land Titles
Rural Financial Services for Micro Enterprise Activities.
Capacity Building through Training & Exposure Visit
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Establishment of Women Co-
operative: 1)Swarnajyoti Women’s
Poultry Co-operative Federation
Ltd. (SWPCFL), 2) Kandhamal
Poultry Development Co-operative
Ltd.(KPDCL)
OTELP has been rewarded by
IFAD as one of the best performing
donor funded projects in one of
India’s most difficult state.
Dr. Hemant Kumar Dash, Senior Scientist, Agricultural
Economics, Directorate of Research on women in
Agriculture (DRWA), started with great appreciation for
the women participants in the workshop. He
congratulated all the participants for utilizing the
platform in the best way possible. The Mahila Kisans
presented their experiences and problems with great
confidence and women empowerment can be seen
easily in this forum. Women empowerment in practice
indicates towards social empowerment. Public
speaking is being increased through organizing this type of workshop. Village level
programs should be organized which should be approached from bottom to top.
Gender issue was cited as a problem of recognition. Presentation is necessary for
recognition, for which it is necessary to increase the confidence level of women.
Doubt and resistance are the road blocks one shall face but lastly it is our power of
persistence which will motivate the women to go onwards.
Prof Radha Mohan started his gracious speech with a popular proverb “A Prophet
is not honoured in his own country”, which means women have never been
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identified as capable as man. But, now, women are fighting for their own dignity.
He congratulated all the participants for being a part of this noble scheme. He also
suggested to develop some unique methods, so that women do not have to
depend on men for work in agriculture.
After this valuable speech, Ms. Rajashree Purohit of Catholic Relief Services, presented her viewpoint regarding the issue. CRS is working in more than 100
countries in world. In Odisha, it is it is working in disaster management and
rehabilitation field. Ms Rajashree shared her experience of working with women in
Kaniah of Puri District in 112 villages. Women of this area had a soft corner for
kitchen garden. So, they focused on it and taught them developed technologies.
With this, a Farmer Field School was opened and women have slowly started to
adopt adopting agriculture too. But, the question is, are we making the women fully
empowered in agriculture? Are women the real decision makers regarding seeds,
markets etc. She suggested the following to face this challenge:-
Women should be involved in decision making
The Kisan cards should be in the name of the women. This will provide
identification to a Mahila Kisan.
Land possession should be in the hand of the women who is cultivating.
She concluded by requesting the policy makers to integrate the above
things.
Mr. Basant Ku.Panigrahi, Program Officer, IGSSS said that there should be
focus on the land-less ladies. Small farmers and land-less people are more
affected by the climate change. Stress should be on vegetable cultivation like
Drum Stick, Papaya etc. which are healthy.
Mr. Franklin described the workshop as a rare event, because everybody is
getting a chance to speak here. It is a platform of sharing of experiences. We need
to listen to each other to solve a problem. He ended with thanking everybody.
Prof Shambhu Prasad, XIMB started with congratulating OLM, ORMAS for
organizing the workshop. He stated that by organizing such workshops, OLM is
more open to the issues of farmers than the Dept of agriculture. The stress should
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be on the ability of farmers, not on the no of decimal or the landholding of the
farmers. The focus of our discussion should be on the achievement and
participation of women, not on mere production. It is very important to discuss
experience of field people. These things should be documented form which will
definitely encourage other researchers and practitioners. This is a good sign that
women farmers of Odisha have been given a platform to speak and discuss their
issues be it relating to health, farm implements, experiences in SRI etc.
5. SESSION-5
After this valuable speech, a memento was presented to Dr. Joan by Prof. Radha
Mohan. She received this as a token of love by ORMAS.
With this, the event came to an end with presentation of highlights of the day by
Mr. Debaraj.
Work is going on in the field of agriculture and Training/handholding is
necessary.
Evaluation should be made on how much income is coming to the
households with such interventions
He concluded with a hope to see this revolution a successful one.
The workshop was ended with a vote of thanks given by Mr Prasant Kumar
Dash, Project Manager (Livelihoods) ORMAS.
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