Women in Agriculture-Emerging Challenges and Opportunities

Odisha Livelihoods MissionPage 8

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

BACKGROUND

Mahila 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:

v SODI (South Odisha Development Initiative) Consortium-Lead-Madhyam Foundation

v Life Academy of Vocational Studies (LAVS)

v Harsha Trust

v Madhyam Foundation

v Organisation for RuralReconstruction & Integrated SocialService Activities (ORRISSA)

v M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF)

v 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 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.
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.

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.

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

v Timely approval of the decisions made and timely release of funds .With untimely release of funds, the crop planning takes a set-back

v Frequent interaction at the district level, with PD/Collectors for increasing awareness of the MKSP program

v Special attention to the health factor

v Convergence with other line departments

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 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.

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
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.