A model for gender mainstreaming in agriculture for ...icar-ciwa.org.in/pdf/TB/ICAR-CIWA-TB(22).pdf · A model for gender mainstreaming in agriculture for village development K.Ponnusamy

A model for gender mainstreaming in agriculture for village development

Directorate of Research on Women in Agriculture (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) Bhubaneswar 751 003, Odisha

Bulletin No. 22

Directorate of Research on Women in Agriculture(Indian Council of Agricultural Research)Bhubaneswar-751003Phone : +91-674-2386220, Fax : +91-674-2386242email : [email protected], web : http://drwa.org.in

A model for gender mainstreaming inagriculture for village development

K.PonnusamyJyoti Nayak

Sabita MishraH.K.Dash

Gayatri MoharanaM.P.S.AryaAnil Kumar

Anil Kumar Shuklaand Manoranjan Prusty

Under the project onTechnology application and gender

mainstreaming in agriculturefor developing a model village

Directorate of Research on Women in Agriculture(Indian Council of Agricultural Research)

Bhubaneswar - 751 003, Odisha

Bulletin No. : 22

A model for gender mainstreaming in agriculture for villagedevelopment2014

© Directorate of Research on Women in Agriculture(Indian Council of Agricultural Research)Bhubaneswar

Published byDirectorDirectorate of Research on Women in AgricultureP.O. Baramunda, Bhubaneswar 751 003, OdishaPhone: +91-674-2386241Fax: +91-674-2386242E-mail:[email protected]:http://www.drwa.org.in

Printed atCapital Business Service & ConsultancyB-51, Sahid Nagar, Bhubaneswar-751007E-mail : [email protected]

Foreword

Villages are the backbone of Indian economy. Food, nutritional and health security ofthe people need to be ensured from the infrastructure and support systemsbeing developed in the villages. Various efforts taken up in by development agencies

have paved the way in bringing out a significant improvement in the quality of life among thevillage people. Research studies and available literature indicate the dismal scenario for womenin the villages who lag behind their male counterparts in terms of literacy, access to health, safedrinking water, mobility, power and authority. Similarly, women in agriculture also have lessaccess to agricultural knowledge/skill, extension services, technologies, market, institutionalfarm credit and other essential services. Directorate of Research on Women in Agriculture(DRWA) has been endeavouring to assess and refine technologies in gender perspective andbring out prescriptions to enable gender equality through gender equity interventions. Further,to develop villages as models for rural development, DRWA has undertaken a research project,“Technology application and gender mainstreaming in agriculture to develop a model village”by adopting Giringaput village in Khurda district of Odisha. I appreciate the efforts ofDr. K. Ponnusamy and his team for documenting the results and experiences and in bringingout a publication “A model for gender mainstreaming in agriculture for villagedevelopment” which can serve as a resource material for planners, policy makers, researchers,extension agents and students as well as Non Governmental Organizations for gendermainstreaming efforts.

BhubaneswarMarch 2014

Neelam GrewalDirector

Directorate of Research on Women inAgriculture

C ontentsS. No. Title Page

Foreword

Preface

1 Introduction 01

2 Rationale for Gender mainstreaming in rural India 03

3 DRWA initiatives for gender mainstreaming 05

4 Baseline information on DRWA model village 07

5 Gender analysis 11

6 Identification of technology gaps in farm enterprises 29

7 Scope for technological and social interventions 30

8 Gender focused intervention points 31

9 Participatory action plan 31

10 Gender mainstreaming strategies 32

11 Convergence of schemes and agencies for sustainable 33rural development.

12 Strategies for empowerment of rural society through gender 38mainstreaming approach

13 Conclusions 39

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1. Introduction

India has 640867 villages. About two-third(68.84%) of Indian population lives invillages, of which 65 per cent is dependenton agriculture for their livelihood.Development programmes, technologicaladvancements and government interventionshave brought transformations in rural India.Eleven Five Year Plans and three annual plansduring the last 62 years have vitalized ruraleconomy in the form of infrastructure,education, health & sanitation andemployment. The democraticdecentralization initiated through 73rd

constitutional amendment has made asignificant headway in bringing power to therural people which has facilitated the ruralpopulation to enjoy the fruits of democracy.Women have also got 33 to 50 per centreservation in the elected local bodies invarious states. These measures have givennew insights, inspiration, aspiration andattitudinal change towards real developmentamong the rural population. The gender gapin literacy has come down from 24.6 to 19.8in the rural areas and from 13.4 to 9.8 in theurban areas during 2001 to 2011.

Despite strident progress made in all spheresof development in rural areas, sporadic andskewed development is being reported invarious publications and media in the formof rural-urban divide. The progress made in

the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)has also highlighted this discriminatoryscenario. NSSO Survey (2005) revealed that40% of farmers were ready to quit farmingdue to declining profit in agriculture over aperiod of time.

When the interest of men declines inagriculture they invariably look foropportunities to earn adequate income innon-farming activities leading to outmigration from rural areas. This leads to asituation where women have to take over themantle of agriculture. They remain invillages, looking after children and elders andengage actively in all aspects of agriculture.Since, the gender role transformation is aslow process, women have to be supportedwith better access to resources and services.In this process, gender sensitization and apragmatic approach to all round developmentwill pave the way for sustainable farming andprogressive mindset of villagers towardsfarming as a profitable profession.

1.1 Status of rural life situation

Rural societies are very complex and largelyheterogeneous. The gender, caste, religionand wealth define the status of people in thesociety. This complex stratification of ruralsociety still continues despite more than sixdecades of planned developmentprogrammes initiated by the government.

A model for gender mainstreaming in agriculture for village development2

Poverty, hunger, malnutrition, nutritionaldisorders and diseases are yet to becompletely eradicated in the villages. Nearly80 per cent of children and 50 per cent ofwomen in the country still suffer from hiddenhunger caused by deficiency of iron, zinc,vitamin B1 and vitamin B12. Although mostof the facilities as available in the urban areasare also found in rural India, access of ruralpopulation to safe drinking water, institutionalcredit, health and sanitation, quality education,formal employment, different ICT tools androad infrastructure is comparatively low.Therefore understanding rural social system,their values and norms would help thedevelopmental workers for taking appropriateinitiatives to ensure all round development inthe villages. The participatory approach needsto be nurtured among the rural communitybased on rapport, trust and interpersonalrelationship and democratic but structuralfunctioning. Concerted efforts in coordinatingthe different schemes/projects for ruraldevelopment are lacking leading to islands ofsuccess in few areas, leaving large populationuntouched behind the development paradigm.

1.2 Causes of poor development in rural

India

About two-third of the rural populationpractise farming as an occupation. Despiteincrease in prices of almost all farm inputs,the price received by the farmers is paltryfor their produce. The dwindling profit

margins forces the farming community to sellthe farm land for non-farming purposes orkeep the land uncultivated.

1.3 Need for integrated approach andensuring convergence

Several agencies are working fordeveloping rural areas and village people.The development takes place on the basisof quantum of efforts of agencies in theirrespective areas of jurisdiction. Thedevelopment is not always uniform.Piecemeal approach, sporadic efforts andcasual attitudes of development agenciesoften lead to skewed growth anddevelopment. The visibility of efforts tendsto disappear slowly or fastly dependingupon the magnitude and quality of work,once the change agents withdraw theirinvolvement. When the women and youthare not involved in the developmentprocess, there is no possibility of bringinginclusive growth among the rural segmentof the population. Mainstreaming womenand village youth can only bring sustainablerural development wherein it is possible toensure equitable distribution of resourcesand opportunities. When different agencieswork in different directions in meeting theaspirations and expectations of the villagepeople, the focus of attaining sustainablerural development is lost. This results inuneven development. Hence, this calls foran integrated approach involving differentstakeholders in ensuring holisticdevelopment of villages. This can also leadto development of model villages where


progressive agriculture and empoweredvillage society would be witnessed.

2. Rationale for Gendermainstreaming in rural India

Gender mainstreaming efforts can bring aboutgender equality in rural society. The followingparameters highlight the gender disparity inboth rural and urban societies.

2.1 Status of women as per Census 2011

As per Census 2011, the population of Indiais 1210.19 million comprising 586.47 million(48.5%) females and 623.72 million (51.5%)males. Females have a share of 48.1% in theurban population and of 48.6% in the ruralpopulation. The sex-ratio is 940 in 2011which is better than 927 in 1991 and 933 in2001. The mean age at effective marriage forfemales stands at 21.0 years in 2010. Of the48.7% never married persons in 2010,women had a share of 43.8% compared with53.5% for men. Out of 150.18 millionhouseholds in the rural areas in 2004 05,16.67 million (11.1%) are Female HeadedHouseholds. India ranks 134 in 2011 among187 countries in terms of the UNDP HumanDevelopment Index (HDI) and GenderInequality Index (GII).

2.2 Health of rural and urban women

The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) was 49 forfemale and 46 for male with the overall IMRof 47 in 2010. Life Expectancy at Birth(LEB) has increased more among women(64.2years) as compared to men (62.6 years)in 2002 06. The Maternal Mortality Ratio

has come down from 254 during 2004 06 to212 during 2007 09. About 57.4% womenin rural areas and 50.9% women in urbanareas suffered from anaemia during 2005 06.The awareness about the female sterilizationis very high in both urban and rural areas.The rural women are found to be less awareabout the traditional methods ofcontraception (55.5%) compared to the urbanwomen (62.4%). About 2.2% women in Indiadrink alcohol, 10.8% chew paan masala and1.4% women smoke currently.

2.3 Participation of women inemployment, literacy and education

The workforce participation rate in ruralsector was 26.1 for females and 54.7 formales in 2009 10 (NSS 64th Round). In therural sector, 55.7% females were selfemployed, 4.4% females had regular wage/salaried employment and 39.9% femaleswere casual labours compared with 53.5%,8.5% and 38.0% males in the same categoriesrespectively. In 2009 10, the average wage/salary received by regular wage/salariedemployees of age 15 59 years was Rs. 155.87per day for females compared with Rs.249.15 per day for males in rural areas.According to the pilot Time Use Surveyconducted in 18,620 households spread oversix selected States, namely, Haryana,Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, TamilNadu and Meghalaya during the period June1998 to July 1999, women spent about 2.1hours per day on cooking food and about 1.1hours on cleaning the households and utensils.Men’s participation in these activities was


nominal. Taking care of children was one ofthe major responsibilities of women, as theyspent about 3.16 hours per week on theseactivities as compared to only 0.32 hours bymales.

As per Census 2011, 74.0% of the populationis literate comprising 65.5% females and82.1% males. The incremental increase overCensus 2001 of 11.8% for females is higherthan 6.8% for males. As per NSS 64th Round,2007-08, of the currently attending studentsaged 5-29 years, 69.2% females in primaryschools, 65.6% females in the middle schoolsand 56.8% females in secondary and highersecondary schools were attendingGovernment schools. The share of males isacross the board lower at 65.4%, 64.0% and55.6% in the respective categories. Share offemales getting free education/ exemptionfrom tuition fee and receiving different typesof incentives is higher than that for males inall the three levels of school education.However, the average annual expenditure forfemales is lower than that of males. The mainreasons of females never attending schoolare ‘expensive cost of education’, ‘notinterested in studies’, ‘education is notconsidered necessary’ and ‘required forhousehold work’.

2.4. Participation in Decision making

As per the National Family Health Survey–III (2005-06) in the rural sector, marriedwomen take 26% decisions regardingobtaining health care for herself, 7.6% in caseof purchasing major household items and

10% decisions in respect of visiting theirfamily or relatives as compared to 29.7 %,10.4 % and 12.2 % respectively in urbanareas for same categories. In the age groupof 15-19 years, 46% of women are notinvolved in any kind of decision making.About 23.4 % rural females and 13.9% ofurban resident females are not involved inany decision making. Similarly, 32.7%illiterate women, 21.6% unemployed womenare not involved in any decision making. Forthe country as a whole, 59.6% women haveaccess to money.

The above data clearly indicate the positionof rural women vis a vis urban women interms of a number of developmentalparameters which highlights the importanceof undertaking initiatives to address the rural-urban divide. Moreover, there is discernableindication about how the women are at adisadvantageous position as compared tomen on similar parameters.

2.5 Current agrarian crisis

Indian agriculture which supports around60% of population for their livelihood isshowing slow growth in the recent years dueto various challenges such as reduction inthe per capita land holding, land degradation,rapid urbanization, migration of ruralpopulation to urban areas, rapidindustrialization, shift to non agriculturaloccupation, almost stagnant net sown areafor 50 years (around 140 mha), climatechange besides others. Under such situation,giving a stimulus to agriculture growth is the


prime focus of the ICAR and the agriculturalscientific community. Therefore, there is aneed to fine tune the research to address theproblems of the farmers especially womenand youth in the rural areas. The researchshould be taken up to meet the requirementof the farming community as well as theconsumers and agri based industries.

2.6 Gender mainstreaming-an approachto rural development

The intricate relationship betweenagriculture and women is well known. Onone hand, high growth and sustainabledevelopment of agriculture are crucial forprosperity and happiness of farmwomenand their family; on the other hand,capacity building of women and theirempowerment, creating efficient servicedelivery mechanism and gender friendlytechnological innovations in agriculturehave become imperative for inclusiveagricultural growth and development. Withchanges sweeping the agriculture and othersectors, gender issues have become moreimportant and dynamic. Therefore, it isnecessary for stakeholders to understandthe issue in larger perspective to designmore focussed action programmes forenhancing and harnessing the capability ofwomen for bringing all round developmentin rural areas. It is possible to bring thegender equality through appropriatetechnological and institutional innovationsand thereby improving the rural women’ssituation in the development process.

3. Initiatives of DRWA towardsgender mainstreaming

It is pertinent to highlight the contribution ofDRWA in taking up various R & D activitiessince its inception in 1996.

3.1. Successful efforts of DRWA

Directorate of Research on Women inAgriculture (DRWA) is a premier institutionin the country undertaking research ongender in agriculture and allied enterprises.The research outputs and outcomes ofDRWA have helped a number of research anddevelopment agencies to reorient theirprogrammes for gender equality and genderequity. Particular mention can be made withregard to the development of database onwomen participation, identification andevaluation of crop production technology/cropping patterns for reducing work load andaddressing the needs of farm women,entrepreneurship models, resource accessand benefit sharing; refinement of farmequipments for drudgery reduction; gendersensitive para extension worker model anddocumentation of women friendly farmenterprises. The para extension workermodel of DRWA brought out the salientfeatures of a gender sensitive extensionapproach and proved its effectiveness in fouradopted villages and the model hassignificant implications for future costeffective extension approach.

3.2. Model Village concept

India lives in villages. Majority of thepopulation depend on agriculture for their


livelihood. However, farming is increasinglybecoming unprofitable due to vagaries ofnature and human made problems. In orderto attain self-sufficiency, rural India needsto be developed in a holistic manner.Moreover, the interest of village youth hasto be rekindled and retained in agriculturefor meeting the food and nutritional securityof the country. Majority of farm operationsare being carried out by women in rural areaswhose access to resources, credit, power andtechnology are yet to be addressed in aholistic manner. Thus, future agriculturalgrowth will have to be engendered to tacklethe farm problems effectively. Model villagecan be developed through appropriateinterventions in gender perspective whichcan create a happy and sustainabledevelopment and benefit the nation in termsof economic development. The improvementin livelihoods of villagers is also importantfor sustainable agriculture in the long run.

A holistic rural development can be ensuredthrough integrated approach to varioussectors of village economy and participationof both men and women. A village is said tobe developed when it attains self-sufficiencyin all its requirements in day to day life.Addressing the concerns of villagers withgender focus is a prime requirement fordeveloping a model village as agriculture isincreasingly becoming feminised.Involvement of women in farm productionis increasing due to male migration resultingin growing number of female headedhouseholds. This leads to change in gender

division of farm operations. Women need tobe recognized as primary producers insteadof beneficiaries of developmental projects.There is a need for convergence of differentdepartments and schemes for developingentrepreneurship among women and youthand equipping them with strategies fordealing with climate change and disasterpreparedness. Development of appropriatemethodologies and approaches for bringingout overall improvement in the livelihoodsof villagers is the aim of model villageapproach. In this process, a village wasidentified to test the concept of model villagethrough technology application & gendermainstreaming efforts.

3.3 Gender mainstreaming in modelvillage

Rural development cannot take place inisolation. Aspects intimately linked with therural economy, such as the social issues,education, health, sanitation, etc. also needto be addressed in harmony with each other.Technology Application and GenderMainstreaming in Agriculture for developinga model village project was started inresponse to recommendations of variousresearch monitoring bodies for a period ofthree years (2011-2014). The model villageconcept is being implemented in Giringaputvillage keeping in view the resources andmanpower availability. A set of parameterswere considered before choosing the villagefor implementing the planned interventionsin a smooth manner. It was decided toentertain a set of commodity focused model


farmers comprising both male and female inequal number in the village with a focus onsustaining the interventions even aftercompletion of the project period. Thetechnological interventions are being carriedout at the farmers’ fields in the mode of onfarm trials or verification trials. On the basisof technological and societal need, villagewomen and youth were trained to learnentrepreneurial skills. Ergonomic evaluation offarm operations for drudgery reduction wasalso taken up as part of the project. Themultidisciplinary scientific team has impartedtraining to the farm families on newinterventions being taken up in the village. Themoral values were also infused to youngergeneration of villagers through appropriateactivities. Developmental agencies of stategovernment are being involved to take up thesuccess stories to the larger domain of farmingcommunity in the state. Efforts have also beenmade to make a convergence of differentdepartments and schemes to promoteprofitable farming, in order to equip the womenand youth to cope with climate change andnatural disasters. Development of gendercheck list and indicators for measuring gendermainstreaming were also undertaken.Stakeholder consultation meeting wasorganised before starting the project activitiesin the village. Concurrent monitoring andevaluation of project activities wereundertaken.

Hence, a conceptual model village wasproposed where the villagers act as decisionmakers, partners, and beneficiaries withmulti-sectorial, multifunctional and integrateddevelopment to achieve the holistic andsustainable development backed up byfuturistic and progressive skills leading tohigher levels of productivity and overallimprovement in the quality of life.

4. Base line information on DRWA’smodel village

The village ‘Giringaput’ in Khurda districtof Odisha was identified for implementingthe model village project after carefulconsideration of factors like access to village,level of development, impact of urbanization,percentage of weaker sections, interventionsof agencies and scope for intervention. Theproject was initiated with the objectives ofdeveloping models for gender mainstreamingin the adopted village through needassessment, capacity building, convergenceof various departments and schemes,entrepreneurship development andfacilitation of access to resources, skills,knowledge and power.

4.1 Village background

Giringaput is a small village located about15 km away from DRWA toward southernside of the Bhubaneswar city. It falls underBhubaneswar block in Khurda district ofOdisha and the Gram Panchayat is situatedat Mendhasala. There are three hamlets witha total of 350 households in this village.


There are few families who live in semipucca and pucca houses. This village has aglorious past because, once upon a time itwas under the suzerainty of MaharajaMukunda Dev, the then king of Khorda gada.This village is about 300 years old. Theprimary school was established 100 years

ago, but people have access to electricity onlysince 20 years ago. Most of the houses inthis village are kachha houses. The firstpucca house in the village was built in 1960by Mansingh family. Earlier there were wellsfor drinking water. Villagers started gettingdrinking water from tube well since 1995.


There are two hamlets of Sabar caste people,who planted cashew nuts in the waste landowned by government in the year 2000, fromwhich they get about Rs. 40,000/- profit peryear. For the first time, 11 women formed aSelf Help Group and started saving smallamount of money in the year 2005-06. Laterthis group also brought auto from the moneysaved by them.

4.2 Social fabric of the village

Out of three hamlets, one is dominated bygeneral caste people with 200 householdswho mostly belong to Khandayata caste.Another hamlet with about 100 householdsbelong to scheduled caste (SC) communities.Different castes co-exist and maintain cordialrelation among themselves in the village.

Communication facility to this village is quitegood because it is located along the main roadand there are pucca and kachha roads insidethe village. There are also number of socio-cultural and educational institutions whichincluded temples, library, community hall,Bhagawata hall, festival ground, playground,primary school, anganwadi centre, commongrain storage place and grocery shops. Thepeople of the village are very simple and theyfollow their traditional practices to preservetheir culture. Most of the SC community donot possess any land and they cultivate in theland of general caste people by taking themon lease. There are five bore wells, four wellsand two ponds for daily use by the villagers.


4.3 Agriculture in the village

Farmers have option to get access to waterfrom Deras dam situated 10 km away fromfor cultivation of crops, mainly paddy. Theyalso depend upon on rainwater for cultivatingvegetables. Paddy is cultivated in more than400 acres of land in Kharif and Rabi seasonand vegetables like brinjal, potato, pumpkin,bitter gourd, green leaves, beans, cowpea,green chillies, cucumber cauliflower andcabbage are produced throughout the year.The village is also rich in plant biodiversitywith different trees like mango, coconut,custard apple, subabul, neem, moringa,papaya, banyan, palm, dates, cashew nut etc.The total animal population is about 1000of which half of them are goats. The rest ofthe animals are cattle and poultry birds. Allthe animals belong to non-descript breeds.

There is no presence of NGO mediateddevelopment so far in this village. There aretwo SHG’s in both the hamlets. In the smallerhamlet the people mostly belong to Sabar

caste. About four years ago, women from 40households came forward and unitedthemselves into SHG called Maa MangalaSHG. They started cashewnut cultivation ina wasteland nearer to their hamlets bycollecting rice grains from each family,selling them in market and purchasing seedsfrom the sale proceeds. They followed thesame practice for four years to maintain thisgarden. The male members of their familysupported them and also helped them. Theyleased this garden for harvesting cashewnuts. They organized religious festivals outof the profit generated. Another SHG groupnamed ‘Sriya’ was formed with 20 members.There is an ASHA worker who takes care ofthe health of pregnant and lactating mothersand also the children belonging to upto sixyears of age. They used to go Khurda andBhubaneswar for treatment when they fellill. They celebrate different festivals togetherin both the hamlets. The residents use libraryfor reading books and gather in Bhagawathall for listening Gita and Ramayan.

Table 1. Land resources of Giringaput village

Sl.No Particulars Area1 Cultivated Area 338Ac.949Dcm2 Pasture (Gochara) Land 124Ac.735Dcm3 Fallow (Anabadi) 250Ac.890Dcm4 Other Lands (Ponds,Roads & Gharabari) 90Ac.601Dcm

Source: Revenue Inspector, Mendhasal


Table 2. Animal Resources of Giringaput village

5. Gender analysis

Gender differences persist in the Indiansociety over a long period. Men andWomen tend to have differential access toresources, extension, services, credit andmarket. These prevailing perceptions needto be documented through gender analysisfor formulating appropriate gender basedaction plans.

5. 1. Gender disaggregated activityanalysis

The gender disaggregated activity analysiswas conducted through focus groupdiscussion to identify the men and womendominated activities in different farmenterprises. This will help the developmentworkers to work out and implement genderbased interventions.

Table 3. Gender disaggregated farm activities in rice cultivation


Table 4. Gender disaggregated livestock activities

Table 5. Gender disaggregated household activities

Table 6. Gender disaggregated activities in vegetable cultivation


Table 7. Gender disaggregated activities in Cashew cultivation

5.2 Identification of gender issuesthrough various PRA tools

PRA techniques were employed to identifythe gender issues relating to rural lifesituation in general and agriculture inparticular. These techniques are described asunder:

5.2.1 Access to resources, health andsanitationAccess to various resources by both men andwomen vary according to perceived genderroles in the society, educational level ofvillage people, impact of mass media, levelof intervention of development agencies andpolitical awareness in the village.

Table 8. Mapping of resource use and its control


*Indicates least use and control of resources; ***** indicates most use of control of resources

The Giringaput village is well connected withNH.-5 bypass road connecting Bhubaneswar,Khurda, Cuttack and other important townsin the vicinity. People commute to theseplaces for various purposes for purchase offamily and farm requirements. Three hamletsof Giringaput are connected through bothconcrete (200 m) and semi-pucca road (~3km). The village roads are taken care of bythe village panchayat. The village roads needto be well laid out for hassle free travel andtransport of agriculture commodities. Eightypercent of villagers have the habit of tobaccochewing and spitting on the public places suchas road, school walls and places in front of

school and temples. Even though a NGOpromoted the individual household toilets,majority (70%) of them abandoned the useof toilets due to water scarcity, unavailabilityof adequate construction materials forcompletion of toilet and cultural factors.Hence, open defecation is largely prevailingin the village although a section of the generalcaste people have their own toilet facilities.In general, old villagers prefer opendefecation while younger ones especiallyfemales find it very difficult to go for opendefecation. In the event of heavy downpour,water gets easily drains out due to thelocation of the village at an elevated place.

Table 9. Utilization of power sources in the village (No. of households)


Table 10. Drinking Water Supply (No. of Households)

Table 11. Health infrastructures and status of women and children in the village

PHC is situated 3km away fromGirngaput

Health status of men and women

There is apparently no clear-cutrelationship between income and energyintake. Increase in income does notnecessarily reflect in increase in energy

intake. Moreover, there seems to haveno relationship between energy intakeand nutrition security. However, thereis a clear relationship between hygiene,sanitation, infectious disease,malnutrition and mortality. The 12th fiveyear plan also emphasizes on the


Table 12. Gender in relation to health status in Giringaput village

importance of convergence betweenlivelihood and access to food,ecosystem, human health, improvedagricultural technology for enhancingrural incomes.

While good nutrition depends on food,care, health and knowledge; nutritionoutcomes depend on household incomeand expenditure patterns, women’sincome, women’s time and work load,decisions on intra-household dietaryallocation and intake.

5.3 Decision making pattern of men andwomen in farm related activities

The head of the family, usually the malemember initiates selection of farm

enterprise, assortment of crops/enterprises,resource allocation, investment decision infarm, labour engagement and purchase offarm inputs. Although, both male andfemale participates in these activities andimplement them, the decision making stillrests with men in majority of the activities.On the other hand, women take considerablelead in managing family finance, saving,purchase of family consumption items,cooking items for the day, health check upof family members and spending for eldersin the family which reflects stereotypegender roles in the rural society. Suchanalysis help in identification of activitiesfor gender sensitization and opportunitiesfor gender mainstreaming.


Table 13. Gender involvement in decision-making & implementation in agriculture

M-Male; F-Female; B-Both male and female5.4. Access of extension services and pattern of preference of extension servicesTable 14. Access to extension services

*Indicates least access to extension services; *** indicates better access to extension servicesWomenhave less adoption rate of technologies and lower productivity then men due to their lower access toextension services.


When women have command over productiveassets and their own earnings, householdsallocate more income to food, health care,clothing and education of children. This wouldcreate multiplier effect bringing attitudinalchanges and mind set in younger generations.Lack of ownership of land by women isreflected in higher gender inequality, whileglobal efforts have created observableimpacts in health and education, it is not sosignificant in agriculture. As mostinterventions are project-based and externallyfunded, little effort was made toinstitutionalize the project gains intoorganizational structure. Moreover, withimpacts of interventions varying from onecountry to another, scope for generalization

of results has been limited and many of theactivity-based interventions lacked thestrategic element to create a real change inthe lives of women (largely limited toawareness raising). Other significant factorsthat perpetuate inequality in accessingresources and services by women are: limitedawareness of new platforms, frameworks,tools and techniques and skills in undertakinggender-based participatory methodologiesamong important stakeholders.Unsustainability of technical, institution-related interventions aimed at reducinggender inequalities, limited fund allocation togender focused programs and lack ofcommitment from local leaders are some ofthe other reasons.

Table 15. Preference of method of extension services


*Indicates least preferred method of extension services; ***** indicates most preferred method ofextension services

Women showed interest in taking extensionmessages in the group contact while menevinced enthusiasm in all the three methods.This might be due to existing socio-culturalenvironment. Evening time was found to bemore suitable for women to interact with thedevelopmental agents. Women preferredhome as better place of contact whereas menwished to meet extension agents at farm.Interaction once in fifteen days was foundto be suitable for both the gender to accessthe extension services. Gender differenceswere also found in choosing male/femaleextension workers. Extensive responsibilitiesin the household and heavy work load in field

limit the women’s involvement in spendingtheir time on own productive assets whichcan otherwise ensure prosperity of them.

5.5 Access to farm credit services

Men and women work in different spheresof farm enterprise leading to different levelsof productivity and earnings. These aredriven by deep seated gender differences intime use, in rights of ownership and controlof resources. Gender gaps disappear whenaccess to productive inputs is equalized.Structures of social networks are differentfor both men and women and networks areimportant assets for women.


Table 16. Access to credit for agriculture

5.6. Ergonomic studies in crop andanimal enterprises

Assessment of grip strength, posturaldiscomfort, heart rate and head load offarm women working in different

activities

Awareness camps

Popularization of drudgery reducing toolsand implements

Table 17. Perceived drudgery of men and women in different farm enterprises

5.7. Management prioritization of farmenterprise

It is important to understand howlinkages among landscape levelcomponents and neighboring farmsinfluence the criteria and incentives fortechnology adoption and thereby

enhancing the technological innovationat farm level.

There is a need to move beyond farmerpreference criteria for differenttechnological options to consider socialand biophysical compatibility criteriaespecially at household level or farming


system, thereby addressing integratedlivelihood and system concerns.

The end goal is not to enhance theproductivity of a particular commodityper se, but to enable synergistic effectsamong components and actors.

By working toward system-wide goalswithin different components ordisciplines, greater gains may berealized at community & landscapelevels.

Enhancing ecological and economicintegrity of the system at large byaddressing component specificcomponent (Obaa et al, 2005).

The enterprise selection guidelines are basedon key attributes considered to be importantfor the various enterprises. The attributes areweighted according to their perceivedrelative importance. Below are the attributeswith their weightings in parenthesis.

1. Meeting farm and family needs (6).Factors considered under this attributeare the extent of meeting familyconsumption needs from farm outputand market disposal.

2. Profitability of the enterprise (5)

Factors considered under this attributeare costs of production, consumerdemand for the product, yields, scaleof production and efficiency ofresource use.

3. Availability of the market, including sizeand requirement of markets (4)

Factors: Location, infrastructure,processing skills and climate

4. Low risks (3)

Ecological & climatic requirements

Conflict trends

Elasticity of demand, storagerequirements, perish ability andavailability of inputs

5. Low financial outlay (2)

Initial capital needs (including land)variable production costs craw materials,hired labour, etc.) and market research

6. Farmers production knowledge (1):

Farmers’ necessary practical experiencewas taken into consideration.

The total score for each enterprise iscalculated by (a) multiplying the number offarmers who mention the attribute by weightof that attribute and (b) totaling theseweighted attributes.

The enterprises are then ranked in order oftheir total scares.

The priority enterprises are subjected to anadditional analysis to identify majorconstraints for each one using guidelines.


Table 18. Enterprise selection process matrix (number and score)

The analysis of enterprise selection processmatrix based on the interaction with farmfamilies indicated that small ruminant viz.goat is found to have more value followedby beans, brinjal and paddy. Being smallholder/land less, the major preference wentfor farm and family needs followed byprofitability of farm enterprise. Hence, thereis a greater degree of propensity of farmfamilies towards farming system approachesalthough the level of awareness andknowledge on integrating available farmenterprise components was considerably low.

Engagement of women in certain farmenterprises can only improve production andincome generation which can trap them inlow-value/ low-growth products. Theirengagement in agricultural markets haslimited impact on women’s incomes and does

not strengthen their assets and decision-making capacity.

Women often feel more comfortable and safein women-only groups and do not meet thecriteria that often define small holder farms.There are certain farm enterprises whoseproduction process is mostly controlled bywomen. Women’s roles vary from onecontext to another. In order to plan andimplement gender activities local levelassessment of gender relations is imperativeto suggest practical action adopting a holisticapproach to gender. Socio-cultural andfamily responsibilities are the most importantfactors limiting women’s mobility and accessto market in developing countries. Thereforetheir reach is limited to local markets only,which do not offer remunerative prices tothem. Women’s participation in labour


market is also restricted due to poor mobility.Women have limited understanding ofagricultural markets because of lack ofinformation, education and exposure.

5.7.1 Criteria for identifying majorconstraints in selected enterprises

The farmers were guided to list the

problems related to each enterprise. It maybe necessary to group the problems intothemes such as soil, water, pests & diseasesproduction process, post-harvest,marketing, etc. and the farmers are helpedto discuss and link the problems to identifytheir root causes.

Table 19. Enterprise analysis for extension and social issues

0 will not address the issue and 5 strongly address the issues

Involvement of women in marketing activitiesin case of field crops was very limited. Dueto social, cultural and religious barriers, exceptin some women headed families, womenrarely go to market places for selling outputsor buying inputs. Women mostly sell theirproducts to the neighbors as well as to theretailers who buy the products from farmer’s

residence. In order to sell agriculturalcommodities produced at homestead, womensometimes contact the traders who havepermanent space in the market places throughmobile phones. However, women have aprominent role in preparing/ processing aswell as sorting and grading of the agriculturalproducts for marketing.

Table 20. Income Generation pattern


5.8. Time issues5.8.1 Seasonal calendar for men andwomen

The magnitude and value of work contributionby both men and women vary dependingupon the agricultural seasons. Seasonalanalysis is also called as seasonal calendar.This is a calendar, which indicates month wise

activities, specialities, threats, problems,abundance, and shortage with regard toagriculture in a diagrammatic way. The itemsincluded in seasonal analysis were of thoseitems, which really affect the agriculture. Thisanalysis explore seasonal constraints andopportunities by diagramming changes, monthby month throughout the year.

Seasonal Activity Calender (Crops)Table 21. Gender and seasonal calendar activities (crops)

LP-Land preparation, S-sowing, G-germination, F-Fertilizer application, P- Pesticide Application, H-Harvesting, H1& H2- First and second phase of harvesting, N-Nursery, TP-Transplanting, W-weeding,w1&w2- First and second phase of weeding, Ir-Irrigation, Th-Threshing, Cl-Cleaning, Pr-PrunningSeasonal Activity Calender (Livestock)Table 22. Gender and seasonal calendar activities (livestock)

V- Vaccine, G-Grazing, NS- Natural service, FMD- Foot and Mouth disease, BP- Back yard poultry,PPR = Peste-des Petitis Ruminitis, F- Feeding


5.9. Wealth ranking

Wealth ranking exercise was carried out bythe local key informants (KI) based on theirown criteria such as income, assets,employment status and other local measuresof well being. The purpose of this exercisewas to investigate perceptions of wealthdifferences and inequalities in community,discover local indicators and criteria of wealthand to establish relative economic position ofhouseholds in community. It shows thepercentage distribution of village populationinto different wealth classes. It helps inunderstanding socio-economic disparities andalso to know the stratification of people.Wealth differences influence copingbehaviours and also help further study &policy making.

The key informants from three differenthamlets and from different wealth classeswere interviewed for this exercise. The keyinformants were asked to categorize threedifferent hamlets of the village into differentwealth classes. All the key informants fromBada Sahi (General Street), Bada Sabar Sahiand Sana Sabar Sahi categorized the farmfamilies inti rich, medium and poor/very poorfarmers. They were asked to make wealthclass categories based on their ownperception. The key informants from threehamlets agreed certain criteria forclassification into wealth categories.

The following steps were followed:

Identified representative KIs fromdifferent socio-economic status

Listed all households

Made cards with head’s name andidentification number and mixed cardsthoroughly

Prepared card piles with category label

Then asked KIs to sort cardsrepresenting wealth categories

Recorded card number of each categoryand criteria used by each KI

Identified categories by consensus

Listed common criteria, calculatedaverage number of categories

Recorded score of households for eachKI and calculate average score

Calculated Cumulative (CF) Frequency(Max - Min score) Wealth categories &arrange households according to wealthcategories

As per the guidelines finalized by experts andkey informants from the farm families threedifferent hamlets/streets were categorizedinto different categories such as rich, medium,poor and very poor, respectively. Possessionof land, own house, pucca house, tractor,vehicles, advanced farm implements, good


irrigation facility, advanced electronicequipments, cattles, sheep and goats werethe criteria used by the KIs. Besides these,data were also collected from villagePanchayat office. It was found that thefarmers who were having monthly income <Rs. 2500, Rs. 2500-3999, Rs. 4000-7000 andmore than Rs 7000 were categorized.

Nearly 63.5 percent of the families werefound to belong to very poor categoryfollowed by poor (29%) medium (3.5%) and

four percent of the families were found to bein rich category.

Wealth Ranking Formula

Si = (n+1- Ci) / n x 100

Si = Score of household as per KI

n = Total no of categories

Ci = Category of household given by KI

Wealth Categories = Average of all KIs

CF = (Max - Min score)/Wealth categories

Table 23. Wealth ranking categories

Categorization of villagers based onwealth ranking

5.10. Livelihood Analysis

Female headed family

Few women headed farm families wereidentified in Giringaput. Females had totake a major role in household income,expenditure and management of familyfinance management as well as familyresource management. The malecounterpart of the family normally wentto the nearby places for non agriculturerelated works like construction of roads


and building of houses. In some houses,the female or the housewife of the familywere involved in household enterpriseslike tailoring and papad making withadditional income from dairy enterprisesto supplement the family income. It wasobserved that these families spent amajor part of their income on foodfollowed by education, health etc. Theysaved upto 5 percent of their income inpost office to meet the future needs ofthe family. The family memberscooperated each other for solving variousproblems and issues.

Male headed farm family

KIs (Sana Sabar Sahi): Hadu Majhi,Draupadi Majhi, Paramananda Majhi,Nira Majhi, Bichitra Nayak, Dilip Behera,Narendra Bagsingh, Dinabandhu Jena,Rama Swain

Livelihood analysis shows the percentagedistribution of income pattern andexpenditure pattern of village population fordifferent wealth classes like large farmers,medium farmers, poor farmers. The keyinformants from different wealth classesfrom the three hamlets were interviewed forlivelihood analysis. There were a total of 350household in Sana Sabar Sahi of Giringaputvillage. The key informants were asked tomention their annual income and the amountthey spend in different heads according tothe needs of family members. Among largefarmers the major source of income wasagriculture and they spent more wages to thelabourers and purchasing agricultural inputsas compared to other expenditures like food,education, etc besides they also saved aboutten percent of their income. The mediumfarmers worked mainly as daily wage earnersdepending on the agriculture and some ofthem were engaged in government andprivate sectors. They spend more amount onfood items as compared other expenditureslike health, education etc and there was verylimited scope for saving, as the entire incomewas spent on meeting the essentialrequirements. Besides this, they also spentmajor part on buying agricultural inputs forfarm operations. The poor farmers belongedto landless class and they struggled to meet

Expenditure pattern of women headed family


both the ends in their life. They worked aslabourer on others’ field and in the leanseason in construction industry. They earnedmeagre amount & felt difficult to sustaintheir livelihood. More than half of the income

was diverted for food and the rest was equallydivided into health and agricultural inputs.This resulted in abject poverty and forcedthem to take loan from rich farmer forsustenance and livelihood.

Income and expenditure pattern of three different classes of households inGiringaput village

Income pattern of rich family Expenditure pattern of rich family

Income pattern of medium class family Expenditure pattern of medium class family

Income pattern of poor family Expenditure pattern of poor family


There is evidence that income under thecontrol of women is more likely to be usedto improve family welfare including familyfood consumption, education, child nutrition,etc. Women are significantly excluded frommarkets and opportunities for them to movefrom subsistence to market-orientedagriculture are much less. Therefore, linkingwomen farmers to market is a criticalpathway to women’s economicempowerment. However, their participationin markets does not always lead to economicempowerment of women. Approaches suchas contract schemes, group based

approaches, cooperatives, etc. have theiradvantages and disadvantages for women.There was high participation of women inthe sale of eggs and milk, but very lowparticipation in sale of livestock cattle, sheep,and goats. Due to poor access of women tomarkets, constraints in time, mobility andtransport, they more often sold their productsat farm gate resulting in lower prices buthigher share in income as compared to whensold at village markets or delivered to traders.Women’s share in income and incomemanagement depended on who sold theproducts and the total income from the sale.

6. Identification of technology gaps in farm enterprisesTable 25. Technology gaps in farm enterprises with yield and income

Table 24. Resource control/supervision in farm enterprises


7. Scope for technological and socialinterventions

The possible technological and socialinterventions that can ensure gender

mainstreaming in the farming were workedout through group interactions and arefurnished in the following table.


8. Gender focused intervention points

Based on the lessons learnt from earlier ruraldevelopment approaches and other modelvillages adopted by different agencies, it wasassumed that focused attention and pumpingof resources, commitment and sincerity andvision of the organizations played significantroles in ensuring the success. In thisbackground, the scientists of DRWA identifiedthe following themes on the basis of interactionwith Giringaput villagers for implementingvarious need based interventions.

Technology application

Gender mainstreaming

Model village-convergence of schemes

Access to food, nutrition, health

Increasing gender participation

Drudgery alleviation

Income generating activities

9. Participatory action plan

The model village concept was planned tobe implemented in one of the identifiedvillages keeping in view the resources andmanpower availability. A set of parameterswere considered before choosing the villagefor implementing the planned interventionsin a smooth manner. Accordingly, Giringaputvillage was identified. The project is beingimplemented with the help of gender specificpara workers in the village with a focus on

sustaining the interventions even aftercompletion of the project period. Thetechnological interventions will beimplemented in the farmers’ fields in themode of ‘on farm trials’ or ‘verification trials’.On the basis of technological and societalneed, village women and youth are beingtrained to learn entrepreneurial skills.Ergonomic evaluation of farm operations fordrudgery reduction was also taken up as partof the project. The multidisciplinary scientificteam imparts training to the farm families onnew interventions being taken up in thevillage. The moral values are also beinginfused to younger generation of villagersthrough appropriate activities. Developmentalagencies of state government are to beinvolved to take up the success stories to thelarger domain of farming community in thestate. There will be a convergence ofdifferent departments and schemes topromote profitable farming, to equip thewomen and youth to deal climate change andnatural disasters. Development of gendercheck list and indicators for measuring gendermainstreaming are undertaken. Stakeholderconsultation meeting were being organisedbefore starting the project activities in thevillage. Concurrent monitoring and evaluationof project activities are being undertaken.Following tools were employed to implementthe proposed project.


Table 27. Tools used for gender analysis and project implementation

10. Gender mainstreamingstrategies

Identification of 2 persons (M+F) ineach of 3 hamlets for each theme ascoordinators for our interventions

Hands on training on the theme,liaisoning them with line departments

Group formation for each commodity-paddy, brinjal, kitchen garden, dairy,goat and farm machinery


Group stabilisation throughmotivation training, demonstrationand market linkage

Groups as intermediaries for allactivities, linking them withcommodity groups /privateentrepreneurs

Formation of gender sensitivecommodity groups

Demonstration of prioritizedtechnological problems (Farmer’spractice, technology option andperformance indicators)

Capacity building of groups based ongender issues

Leveraging backward and forwardlinkages for knowledge managementand marketing of farm produce

11. Convergence of schemes and agencies for sustainable rural development.

Table 28. Government Schemes for village development






12. Strategies for empowerment ruralsociety through gendermainstreaming approach

Ensuring equal access to productive assets,inputs and services is believed to boost thefarm yield by 20-30 percent and therebyreducing hunger and poverty and increasingwomen’s income. The constraints andopportunities faced by women in agriculturetend to vary across the regions/villagesdepending on the socio-cultural and agro-ecological contexts. With changes sweepingagriculture and other sectors of Indianeconomy, gender issues are emerging as moreimportant and dynamic which needs to begiven adequate attention for enhancing andharnessing the capability of women inagriculture. The following strategies areproposed for bringing out overallimprovement in quality of life and furtherharnessing the full potential of women inagriculture.

1. The farm women commodity groupsneed to be channelized to better accesstraining, extension, information, creditinputs, marketing and other services atall levels.

2. Specially focused capacity buildingprogrammes for women in agricultureneed to be formulated to refine skillswith appropriate technologies.

3. Ergonomically designed farm tools andmachines should be developed andpopularized which can reduce drudgeryof farm women from production to postproduction stages.

4. Special fund should be created at thenational level to address gender specificissues in agriculture.

5. Well articulated gender policy isessential to empower women inagriculture in order to improve thelivelihoods, remove the barriers ofopportunities and minimize the intensityof hunger and poverty.

6. Sensitization efforts are required atvillage level to make women’s equalrights in decision making a social normand this requires a change in attitude ofmale members.

7. Women have enormous traditionalagriculture knowledge which needs tofind appropriate place in the changeprocess under the fluctuating bio-physical environment.

8. Ensuring access to food, health andimproved health care is a basisrequirement for creating a wellnourished healthy people who form thehuman capital in agriculture.

9. Adoption of strategic approachinvolving gender awareness, morehuman and financial resources, reformsfor gender integration at local level,institutional approach, sustainableinvolvement and economicempowerment is crucial for women torealize and harness their potential.

10. Creation of institutional framework toaccommodate voice of women in policyand decision making is an effectiveoption for collective action.


11. Efforts should be made to makewomen’s work visible, freeing time andenergy from women’s budget for restingand learning and investing in socialdialogue which can further facilitatewomen empowerment.

12. Extension programs should identifywomen as an integral part of their targetaudience and focus should be onpromotion supply of women friendlytools and implements at village level.

13. Establishing technology resourcecenters in village’s clusters are requiredfor making technologies available towomen on a custom hiring basis.

14. Home based, post-harvest productionand marketing activities should besupported by providing marketinformation, linking them with local/distant traders, improving transportationand storage facilities, improvingprocessing and packaging techniquesand enhancing credit facilities.

15. Building the capacity of women farmersto understand markets financial literacy,negotiation skills, explore greater choiceand new opportunities and collectivesfor ensuring benefits to them. This willfacilitate wider economic and socialempowerment.

16. There should be an explicit process toidentify market opportunities for womenproducers to gain new roles and powerin agricultural market chains. Thisrequires engagement of differentstakeholders in the value chain. Market

development should be followed byinstitutional changes to aggregate small-scale production and increase access ofwomen producers to the markets.

17. Development and application ofmethodology to generate evidences anddatabase on multiple pathways fornutrition security, changing societalroles and norms and leveraging men’ssupport and exploring the possibility ofmaking ICT available to women tofacilitate community monitoring needstrong support from policy makers andplanners.

18. Regular gender trainings, replication ofbest practices in extension systems,scaling up advocacy and create of aplatform for knowledge sharing amongR & D institutions would furtherpromote gender equality.

19. It is important to track the changinggender issues and priorities in differentsocial, economy, technological, agro-ecological and policy environments forbetter designing and targeting ofinterventions based on informedknowledge.

20. Local contexts including agriculturesituation and gender issues should gointo developing micro level and regionalpolicies for food and nutritional security.

13. Conclusions

More awareness need to be createdabout prevail ing gender inequali ty,inability of women to express specificdemands, inability to dialogue in mixed


groups, poor institutional capacity suchas lack of facilitation competencies andleadership for women to improve theiraccess to farm innovations. Theseimpediments can be overcome byundertaking appropriate gender analysis,participatory planning, implementationof gender responsive interventions andfacilitating convergence of differentschemes and programmes. This willensure sustainable village developmentthrough profitable farming and healthierlivelihood wherein women will leveragethe development process.

14. Reference

Obaa, B., Mutimba, J and Semana, A.R 2005.Prioritising farmers extension needs ina publicly funded contract system ofextension: A case study from Mukonadistrict, Uganda. July AgREN Networkpaper No. 147 PP. 1-9.

Census Report 2011. Cited at www.censusindia.gov.in on 22.05.2013

NSSO 2005. Cited at http://mail.mospi.gov.in/index.php/catalog/46 on14.06.2013


Educating women farmers on use ofpheromones

Explaning use of pheromone trapsto male farmers

Raising pulse as bund crop in of paddy fields Training on Mushroom Cultivation

Discussion with farmers Glimpse of line planting in paddy field


Woman raising mixed cropping in brinjal field Woman collecting fuel wood for household use

Raising ridge gourd in trellies DRWA scientists interacting with a farmer

Pheromone trap use in paddy field Training on Fruit & Vegetable Preservation


A Village View Men undertaking repairing of village hut

Woman lopping subabul as feed for goat Women tending cattle for grazing

Woman drying paddy under sun Women preparing cow dung for fuel use


Gender roles in using farm tools Woman preparing comfortable size of fuel sticksfor household use

PRA exercise in Giringaput village Gender analysis exercise with villagers

Woman practising parboiling of paddy by usingimproved parboiling unit

Random planting of paddy by women

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