Understanding the role of women in agriculture across the EGP

Research led by Professor Sucharita Sen and her team at SaciWATERs has uncovered a mismatch between macro and micro level research findings

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Across the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP), poverty is widespread and the daily challenges facing farming communities are vast. To identify pathways out of poverty it is crucial to understand the changing roles of women in agriculture and across the region.

Macro-level studies in the EGP clearly indicate that feminization of agriculture is taking place in Nepal, primarily as a response to male out-migration, and in Bangladesh due to increasing engagement of women in different types of allied agricultural activities. In India, however, macro-level data highlights defeminisation, or the withdrawal of women from the agricultural labour force, and there is some evidence that women from poorer households are withdrawing from agriculture at a higher rate than those from wealthier households.

These results are important, because micro-level studies often begin with an assumption of feminization of agriculture and proceed to investigate the impacts. This mismatch between macro and micro level research findings suggest that the diverse context of the EGP hasn’t always been well understood. One reason for this could be due to existing heterogeneities that can in turn hide potential homogeneities, and vice versa, while the nature of migration and the patterns of gender interactions across and within parts of India, Nepal and Bangladesh should also be considered. Therefore, it’s crucial to critically revisit the role of women in agriculture in the EGP.

Members of the Women’s Self Help Group in Kalinagar village walk out into the fields. In 2015 the Sustainable Resilient Farming System Intensification (SRFSI) project established a node in Kalinagar village. SRFSI is funded by the Australian Government through the Sustainable Development Investment Portfolio (SDIP) and works with 100,00 farmers across India, Bangladesh and Nepal. In recent years the farmers club in Kalinagar has also begun developing their seed selling business, most popularly lentils but also black cumin and coriander. Women are mostly responsible for the seed production business in Kalinagar and subsequently it provides them with a new income stream as well. They currently sell to the Department of Agriculture as opposed to on the open market who pay 85 rupees a kilo. According to a group discussion with farmers, this increase in profit has mostly been used at the household level for education and personal costs while farmers have consistently re-invested the same amount into their farmers.

Nutan Devi teaches a family friend how to use a sewing machine. Nutan Devi is a female leader in the community and works hard to encourage other women in her community, she also earns her own income through a tailoring and beauty salon business she runs from home. Nutan’s husband Yogendra Mondal is an active farmers in the Sustainable Resilient Farming System Intensification (SRFSI) project that has been working with communities in Bihar. SRFSI is funded by the Australian Government through the Sustainable Development Investment Portfolio (SDIP) and works with 100,00 farmers across India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Debasti Yadav rests at home with her 7 year old daughter Aastha Yadav. Debasti’s husband Bubeneshwo has developed a working relationship with Chanden Mehta from neighbouring Bhokraha village. Through Chanden, Bubeneshwo learnt about the zero till technology and recently a machine was brought to the community, now Bubeneshwo acts as the link between tractor owners in his community and farmers wanting to use the machine. While Chitaha wasn’t initially part of the SFRSI project when it began working with local farming communities in 2014, it is an example of how the technology and practices are moving to new communities.

In Chitaha Village, Sunsari District, Terai Region of Nepal a daughter carries a large bunch of fodder through fields and heads home to feed her goats.

Mooni Bibi a member of the Mukta Self Help Group practices using a rice transplanter machine on a farm in Hawragari village, Cooch Behar District of West Bengal. Mooni Bibi was taught by Ashraf Ali, a young farmer who in recent years has also begun working for Askar Ali who runs a local custom hiring centre in the area as his rice transplanter operator. In the past few years Mooni Bibi along with other women from her community formed the Mukta Self Help Group. The group has been part of the Sustainable Resilient Farming System Intensification (SRFSI) project funded by the Australian Government through the Sustainable Development Investment Portfolio (SDIP) is working with 100,00 farmers across India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Through the SRFSI project, the group has been introduced to a new business opportunity of producing rice seedlings that can be sold to rice transplanter machine operators. By growing rice seedlings the women have been able to independently earn their own income and establish a business niche that continues to grow each rice-planting season. With the income Mooni Bibi’s has earned through her rice seedling business she has been able to singlehandedly send her 5 year old granddaughter Mona Lisa to a private pre-school and also provide her with a daily tiffin box of food to eat in her breaks. SRFSI was implemented by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) and local partners including Uttar Banga Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (UBKV) and Department of Agriculture.

In Udaynagar Village members of the Womens Self-help groups visit a zero till wheat field in their community. In 2015 the Sustainable Resilient Farming System Intensification (SRFSI) project was introduced in Bihar to five nodes including Udaynagar Village. SRFSI is funded by the Australian Government through the Sustainable Development Investment Portfolio (SDIP) and works with 100,00 farmers across India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Professor Sucharita Sen is a Gender Specialist from Jawarlahal Nehru University in Delhi. She completed this study with a team at SaciWATERs, the South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies. SaciWATERs is a policy research institute based in Hyderabad, India. It focuses on critical issues related to water resources management in South Asia using a pro-poor human development approach.

Watch an an interview with Professor Sucharita Sen from the 2019 Seeds of Change Conference here.