Himachal Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 29 (1&2) : 84-88, 2003
Time use pattern of hill farm women : A study in
Himachal Pradesh
Promila Kanwar, Dinesh Yadav and Neetu Sharma
Deptt. of Home Science Extension Education
CSK H.P. Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur 176062
Abstract
Time use pattern of hill farm women was studied in two agro – climatic zones ( Sub -montane and low hills sub- tropical zone and Mid hills sub- humid zone) of Himachal Pradesh with a sample size of 1500 covering three districts viz. Una , Kangra and kullu . The data were collected through interview using 24 hours recall method and participatory observation with the help of structured interview schedule. Findings revealed that women spent maximum time in farming activities followed by kitchen activities and management of animals and animal shed in both peak and slack periods. Whereas minimum time was spent on grazing of animals during peak period and carrying food to farm during slack period . An actively involved farm woman spent 15:64 hrs /day and 16:58 hrs/day for productive work during slack and peak period, respectively. It was further observed that time saved by farm women from farm activities during slack period was diverted towards care of children & family members , household work and mid work rest / leisure.
Introduction
Time is a unique and valuable resource. Rural women spend a lot of time not only in managing their homes but also managing their farms and animals. Srivastava (1985) stated that all farm women irrespective of land status of their family provide 14-18 hours of productive physical labour in different chores, thus depicting the load of drudgery shouldered by them in day-to- day activities. In hills, where the environment is harsh, slopes are steep, scattered and scarce land, women devote major chunk of their daily time for various agricultural and domestic activities (Dubey,1988). The productive inputs made by farm women in terms of work hours contributed or equivalent income generated in the family are generally neither attended nor recorded. Thus, it is important to study the time use pattern of hill farm women in farming, animal husbandry and homestead activities for the introduction of any developmental programme in this target group .
Materials and Methods
The study was carried out in two agro- climatic zones of Himachal Pradesh with a sample size of 1500 as shown in table 1. Out of the list of districts falling in these two zones, Una from zone I and Kullu & Kangra from zone II were selected. From each district four predominantly agrarian villages were selected. The data were collected through interview using 24 hours recall method and participatory observation with the help of structured interview schedule. The sample was selected by proportionate random sampling technique from five distinct land holding categories viz. landless, marginal, small, medium and large.The data on 24 hours time use pattern were collected by spot observation from five different categories of landholdings with the help of participatory observation from 25 households comprising five households in each land holding category. The recording was done on five consecutive days. In all, 250 observations were made for both peak and slack periods (5 households x 5 landholding categories x 5 days x 2 agricultural seasons = 250 observations).
Simple mean and percentages were calculated to determine the time spent by women in various homestead activities. Correlation of time use pattern of rural women with selected variables was also studied with the help of coefficient of correlation.
Results and Discussion
Profile of rural women
The distribution of rural women according to their personal and socio- economic profile is shown in table 2. Age profile of women reveals that fifty percent of them were in the lower middle age group followed by upper middle (29.00%) and young (20.80%). A negligible percentage of women were in the old age group. The marital status profile depicts that 92.40 percent respondents were married. The occupation profile of the respondents exhibits that 86.73 percent were non wage earners, 5..07 percent were in enterprise and only 1.53 percent were in service. Majority of he farmwomen ( 61.27 percent) were in the low socio–economic category.
Time use pattern
The data collected by interview method reveal that during peak period maximum mean time spent by rural women in a day was in farming activities i.e. 5:00 hrs, followed by 3:2 hrs in kitchen work, 2:20 hrs in management of animals & animal shed and 1:59 hrs for mid work rest. In slack period, maximum time was spent in kitchen work (3.19 hrs.), followed by mid work rest (2:3 hrs), management of animal shed (2:20 hrs) and farm activities (1:36 hrs). Least time was spent in cash earning at home, religious work, collecting fuel wood/making dung cakes and fetching water during both peak and slack periods The unaccounted time + sleep was 8:36 hrs during slack period which was reduced to 7:42 hrs in peak period. It means that an actively involved farm woman contributes 15:64hrs/day and 16:58 hrs/day for productive work during slack and peak periods, respectively. These figures are slightly towards higher side in comparison with the findings of Antwal & Bellurkar (2000) who reported 13:41 hrs/day during slack period and 14:10 hrs/day during peak period, which might be due to more time input in hilly terrains of Himachal Pradesh as compared to plains of Maharashtra where the above said study was carried out.
It was further observed that time saved by farm women from farm activities during slack period was diverted towards care of children & family members , household work and mid work rest / leisure.
The data pertaining to 24 hours time use pattern of farm women by participatory spot observation exhibits that on an average, women spent maximum time i.e. 4:34 hrs/ day in farm activities during peak period , while 4:8 hrs/day in kitchen work during slack period (Table 3). The second priority during peak period was kitchen work (3:70 hrs.), followed by management of animal shed (2:38 hrs),whereas during slack period it was management of animal shed (3:20 hrs), followed by mid-work rest /leisure(2:30 hrs). The least time consuming activities in peak period were grazing of animals and religious work and in slack period these were cash earning outside home & carrying food to farm.
It may be inferred from the results that the data collected through both interview and participatory method exhibited almost same time utilization pattern for various day to day activities and are therefore
Table 1. Distribution of Sampled Respondents
Zones
/ Districts / Blocks / Villages / SampleName / Altitude
(msl) / Zone No.
Sub -montane and low hills sub- tropical zone / Upto 650m / I / Una / Una
Gagret / 4
4 / 398
392
Mid hills sub- humid zone / 651-1800m / II / Kullu
Kangra / Kullu
Nagrota Bagwan / 4
4 / 296
414
Total / 1500
Table 2. Profile of rural women
N=1500
Profile / Category / f / %
Age / Young (18-30) / 312 / 20.80
Lower Middle (31-45 ) / 750 / 50.00
Upper Middle (46- 60 ) / 435 / 29.00
Old (>60 ) / 3 / 0.20
Marital status / Unmarried / 11 / 0.73
Married / 1386 / 92.40
Widow / 101 / 6.73
Divorced / 2 / 0.13
Occupation / Non wage earner / 1301 / 86.73
Farm labour / 100 / 6.67
Service / 23 / 1.53
Enterprise / 76 / 5.07
Socio economic status / Low (<30.00)
Medium (30.01-50.00)
High (>50.00) / 919
571
10 / 61.27
38.07
0.67
consistent and reliable. However, a slight variation in total time spent was seen in both the methods which may be due to approximation of time by farm women while responding during interview.
Correlation of time use pattern with age and socio-economic status of the respondents in peak period
The data in table 4 shows that out of 15 activities , management of animals/animal shed, household work, personal care, mid work rest and farm activities had positive and significant correlation with age meaning thereby that as age increases, time input in
these activities also increases during peak agricultural period. The activities showing negative but significant correlation were kitchen work , fetching water, care of children and family members and cash earning at home thus indicating that higher the age, lower the time input in these activities.
The correlation of socio economic status with time use pattern during peak period indicated positive and significant correlation with kitchen work , fetching water, carrying food to farm, care of children, religious work and cash earning at home which implies that higher the socio-
Table 3. Time use pattern of farm women during peak and slack periods ( Hours per day)
Sr. No. / Type of work / Interview method / Participatory observationPeak period / Slack period / Peak period / Slack period
1. / Kitchen work
(pre/post cooking work) / 3:20 / 3 :19 / 3 :70 / 4: 80
2. / Fetching water / 0:16 / 0 :16 / 0:28 / 0: 38
3. / Collecting fuel wood/
making dung cakes / 0 :13 / 0 :14 / 0:30 / 0 :12
4. / Grazing of animals / 0 :20 / 0 :40 / 0 : 01 / 0 :30
5. / Management of animals/animal shed / 2 :20 / 2 :20 / 2 :38 / 3 :20
6. / Household work
(brooming, mopping wash2ing) / 0 :57 / 1 :41 / 0 :32 / 1:25
7. / Carrying food to farm / 0 :80 / 0 :30 / 0: 60 / 0:02
8. / Care of children and family members / 0 :46 / 1 :50 / 0:25 / 0:43
9. / Personal care (bathing, dressing, eating) / 1 :10 / 1 :19 / 1 :34 / 2:60
10. / Religious work / 0 :11 / 0 :12 / 0 :15 / 0 :16
11. / Cash earning outside home / 0 :29 / 0 :18 / 0 :28 / 0: 02
12. / Cash earning at home / 0 :10 / 0 :15 / 0 :50 / 0 : 50
13. / Mid work rest/leisure / 1 :59 / 2 :43 / 1 :35 / 2 : 30
14. / Farm activities / 5 : 00 / 1 :36 / 4 :34 / 0 : 28
15. / Unaccounted time+sleep / 7 :42 / 8 :36 / 8 :12 / 8 : 50
*Total Productive
Time Input / 16: 58 / 15: 64 / 1: 88 / 15: 50
*Total Productive Time Input = 24 hours+unaccounted time +sleep
economic status, higher is the time input. The negative but significant association was observed with management of animal shed, household work, mid work rest and farm activities.
Correlation of time use pattern with age, socio-economic status of the respondents in slack period
During slack period , out of total fifteen activities, only three activities i.e.management of animals/ animal shed, mid work rest and farm activities had positive and significant correlation with age (Table4), thus showing that time input in these activities
increases with age. However, activities such as kitchen work, fetching water, collection of fuel wood, children’s care and cash earning at home were found to be negatively but significantly associated with age.
The relationship of socio-economic status with time use pattern reveals a significant and positive correlation with kitchen work, fetching water, religious work and cash earning at home. The negative but significant correlation with collecting fuel wood /making dung cakes, animal management and farm activities during slack period implies that with the improved socio-economic status the time input in the above listed activities declines.
Table 4. Correlation of time use with age, socio-economic status of the respondents in peak &
slack periods
Type of work / Peak period Slack periodAge / SES / Age / SES
Kitchen work ( pre/post cooking work) / -0.100* / 0.088* / -0.090* / 0.116*
Fetching water / -0.220* / 0.138* / -0.202* / 0.129*
Collecting fuel wood /making dung cakes / -0.036 / 0.056 / -0.120* / - 0.128*
Grazing of animals / -0.006 / 0.046 / -0.013* / 0.038
Management of animals/ animal shed / 0.191* / -0.116* / 0.210* / -0.121*
Household work (brooming, mopping, washing) / 0.114* / -0.161* / -0.019 / -0.035
Carrying food to farm / -0.006 / 0.092* / 0.052 / 0.059
Care of children and family members / -0.438* / 0.094* / -0.338* / 0.054
Personal care (bathing, dressing, eating) / 0.186* / 0.052 / 0.066 / -0.050
Religious work / 0.021 / 0.092* / -0.020 / 0.136*
Cash earning outside home / -0.071 / 0.002 / -0.081 / -0.052
Cash earning at home / -0.130* / 0.115* / -0.092* / 0.090*
Mid work rest/leisure / 0.140* / -0.092* / 0.163* / 0.026
Farm activities / 0.254* / -0.157* / 0.149* / -0.103*
Unaccounted time+sleep / 0.043 / 0.037 / 0.019 / 0.064
*value at 5per cent level =0. 088
Thus it can be concluded from the study that women spend maximum time in farming activities followed by kitchen activities and management of animals and animal shed in both peak and slack periods while minimum time is spent on grazing of animals during peak period and carrying food to farm during slack period. An actively involved farm woman contributes 15:64 hrs/day and 16. 58 hrs/day for productive work during slack and peak period, respectively. It is further observed that time
saved by farm women from farm activities during slack period is diverted towards care of children & family members , household work and mid work rest / leisure.
Acknowledgement
This work has been done under All India Coordinated Research Project on Home Science Extension Component of, ICAR and the financial assistance rendered by the institute is duly acknowledged.
References
Antwal , P.N. and Bellurkar,C.M. 2000. Time use pattern of rural women . Maharashtra Journal of Extension Education, 19: 312-314.
Dubey, V.K.1988. For the hill women of Uttar Pradesh: All work and no pay. Indian Farming, 38 (8): 6-7.
Srivastava , J.C.1985. Harnessing technology for improving the quality of life of rural women..(In): Women and Technology, pp. 38-74. Jain, C. (Ed). Rawat publications, Jaipur.