March 5, 2002
'27'NATIONAL WORKSHOP ON "WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE" BEGINS
Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Shri Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav today said that the policy planners should understand the needs of women and incorporate their perspective in the planning process. He said that while recognising the contribution of women to agriculture emphasis should be on bringing them into the mainstream. Shri Yadav was speaking at the National workshop on "Women in Agriculture, farmer to farmer extension" here. Shri Yadav told the meeting that of the economically active women, 84% are engaged in agriculture and allied activities. He said that in dairy and animal rearing, women outnumber men. However, he regretted that their contribution has not been recognised in the society. He said that the workshop should make substantial recommendations, which should be considered for incorporating in the Tenth Plan.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Shri J.N.L. Srivastava said that Self-Help Groups, which are managed by women and operating in 21 States and 137 districts, have generated significant economic activities. Because of their popularity the Government is encouraging more and more of Self Help Groups. He said that as migration is taking place from rural areas to urban areas due to their employment potentials the villages are going to be mostly inhabited by old men and women. Therefore, he said, the responsibility of managing agriculture would be mostly on women.
Agriculture Sector employs 4/5th of all economically active women in the country. 48% of India’s self-employed farmers are women. There are 75 million women engaged in animal husbandry as compared to 1.5 million men. Despite such significant contributions of women in crop and animal husbandry, fisheries, forestry and post-harvest technology, those engaged in formulating packages of technologies, services and public policies for rural areas have often tended to ignore the productive role of women. However, a significant shift in approach towards well being of women from "Welfare during Fifties", to "Development during Seventies" to "Empowerment during Nineties" and to "Participation during Two Thousand". The National Agriculture Policy has highlighted incorporation of gender issues in the agricultural developmental agenda recognising women’s role as farmers and producers of crop and life stocks, as users of technology, as active agents in marketing, processing and storage of food and as agricultural labourers.
The Two-day workshop, in which women farmers from 21 States and UTs are participating will critically examine the present agricultural extension system and suggest structural, operational and functional changes for effective mainstreaming of programs for women farmers; deliberate and evolve strategies for development of women friendly technologies; identify constraints faced by women farmers in procuring credit and inputs and suggest changes to streamline timely availability of these resources; evaluate marketing options available to women farmers and suggest measures to strengthen and expand them and record potential role women play in post-harvest processing/value addition in agro-based industries.