Empowering Women in Agriculture for Food Security

Context

• The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer.
• The resolution celebrates the essential role of women in global agriculture while raising awareness of their challenges, which include property rights and market access.

Significance of Women in Agriculture

• Substantial Contribution to Food Production: Women account for 60% to 80% of food production in developing countries and nearly 39% of agricultural labour in South Asia.
• Vital Role in Household Food Security: Women farmers directly contribute to family nutrition, food availability, and community food security through local and subsistence agriculture.
• Contribution to Rural Economy: Women’s involvement boosts local economies by ensuring steady agricultural production, contributing significantly to rural economic resilience.
• Custodians of Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge: Often maintain traditional agricultural practices, preserving indigenous seeds, biodiversity, and promoting climate-resilient farming techniques.
• Critical Role in Climate Adaptation: Women actively adapt farming practices to environmental changes, significantly contributing to resilience at community levels.

Challenges Faced by Women Farmers

• Land Ownership and Property Rights: Women in India represent only about 3% of landowners, significantly limiting their control over resources and their ability to secure credit and institutional support.
• Limited Access to Finance: Due to a lack of property collateral, women farmers struggle to obtain substantial loans, constraining their ability to invest in farming technology and infrastructure.
• Restricted Access to Technology and Information: Lower access to mobile phones, internet, and agricultural advisories hampers women’s capability to adopt advanced farming practices and climate-adaptive techniques.
• Increased Vulnerability to Climate Change: Climate change disproportionately affects women farmers, escalating their household and agricultural responsibilities, and intensifying their exposure to agricultural and livelihood risks.
• Inadequate Representation and Participation: Limited decision-making power and inadequate representation in agricultural policy formation impede their ability to advocate effectively for their needs.

Way Forward

• Ensuring Gender-Equitable Land Rights: Policies must actively promote property ownership among women, facilitating land registration and inheritance rights to empower their economic position.
• Enhancing Financial Access and Inclusion: Expand access to credit and financial services tailored specifically for women, leveraging self-help groups, cooperatives, and microfinance models.
• Scaling Up Access to Agricultural Technology: Enhance digital literacy and technology access through targeted interventions, like Climate Adaptation Information Centres and mobile advisories, to enable women farmers to make informed decisions.
• Strengthening Agricultural Value Chains: Support women-led agricultural cooperatives, value chains, and enterprises, ensuring market linkages, fair prices, and sustainable agricultural practices.
• Inclusive Policy Design and Implementation: Implement gender-sensitive agricultural policies based on granular, gender-disaggregated data, ensuring the unique needs of women farmers are recognised and addressed effectively.
• Capacity Building and Empowerment Initiatives: Continuously enhance skills and knowledge of women farmers through government schemes like Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana, promoting skill upgrades and sustainable farming practices.
• Encourage Community-Based Climate Adaptation: Expand successful models like ENACT (Enhancing Climate Adaptation of Vulnerable Communities), which leverage women’s active participation in adopting climate-resilient practices, diversification, and community seed production.

Sharing is caring!