FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) Report on
Women Participation in Indian
Agriculture was released by Shri Parshottam Rupala, Hon’ble Union Minister of
State, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India at a webinar held
on May 7, 2020 in the Capital.
FLO has collated the report on Women
Participation in Indian Agriculture to analyse the role of women in agriculture
and provide solutions on how women in agriculture can get their due share and
be recognised.
On this occasion Mr. Rupala congratulated
the great initiative taken for the first time by any Chamber of Commerce and
encouraged the President and the FLO members to develop a channel to connect
women farmers directly to the households. “ We are willing to extend our
support to the Chambers wherever required. Citing the success story of
Amul, he added that women can create so many more such stories in agriculture
and allied sector, bee keeping is one such sector which has enormous
potential”.
“The government is already giving special
subsidies to women farmers and looks forward to supporting any viable project
for the economic empowerment of women in agriculture. We are open for a 100%
FPO (Farmer Producers Organisation) for women and for them there’s a 100 crore
IT rebate which makes it very lucrative for the Food processing sector to get
involved as well”, he added.
“As the President of FLO and also
as an individual, I am hugely passionate towards attaining economic empowerment
and this has to begin with women in agriculture given the statistics that
over 75 percent economically active women in India are associated with the
Agriculture sector. I began my term by launching the Agriculture Initiative nationally
and have done my best to work towards facilitating the growth of women in
agriculture. Now, with in-depth research, state wise analysis was created and
in this report, we have come up with reasons as to what stops the growth
of women in the field of agriculture and recommended solutions for the same.”,
said Harjinder Kaur Talwar, President FLO.
Women are of vital importance to rural economies and
the agriculture sector. They are important for ensuring food security and
preserving the local agro biodiversity. While the men mostly venture out of the
villages in search of livelihood, the womenfolk are relegated into working in
the fields from dawn to dusk, in addition to her traditional role of caregiver
in the family. In spite of their vital contribution to the economy, these women
are mostly invisible and unheard. Be it due to gender inequality or patriarchal
society norms, they face a lot of discriminations.
With this though, FLO, led by President
Harjinder Kaur Talwar, initiated the focus on this important sector of Indian
economy and this report is a humble attempt in bringing out this set of
analysis and recommendations on Women Participation in Indian Agriculture, with
the objective of bringing women in this sector to the forefront.
Policy Recommendations by FLO are as
follows :
· Creating a
proper database of women in agriculture sector
· Improving Female
Landholding Patterns
· Putting an End to
Forcible Land Relinquishment (Haq-Daan) by Women
· Improving the
land leasing framework
· Women only benefits
· Enabling
“Scientific & Climate Resilient” Smart Women Farmers
· Support the
formation of Female Farmer Producer organisations (FPOs)
Implementation of SHG (Self Help
Group) Model on national level
May 7, 2020