Training Women in Farmer’s Field Schools: Shifting Equations in Purulia
Bringing about a paradigm shift in power equations through training women in farmers’ field schools, so that they are acknowledged for their contribution in the fields and the decisions they make, is a dynamic decision of the PRADAN team in Purulia—a process and a movement that will have far-reaching consequences.
W omen are the poorest among the poor. If women are to be at the centre of the change process, the recognition of women as farmers needs adequate attention. Even within a poor family, women are deprived of the recognition they deserve. They work longer hours than the men; yet they are not considered to be farmers. Often, in the various articulations by a state, women belonging to the poorer sections are not counted as a separate category but are, instead, clubbed under the umbrella of ‘family’. Any policy, formulated for the poor, supports the family and not women separately. Because their contribution and their plight go unrecognized, women’s poverty needs separate and strategic attention.
Women and Agriculture
PRADAN’s Purulia team works with women—the most-deprived section of society. We in the team realized the need for developing a vision for change. With the help of the Gender Equality Programme (GEP), we visualized a different scenario for the women. So far, the endeavours had been limited to collectivizing women into groups, which did not necessarily ensure women’s empowerment and did not take into account the plight of the woman farmer.
India’s agricultural sector today faces issues of efficiency due to the lack of mechanization. Farm sizes are small and the farmers poor. According to the 2011 statistics, the average farm in India is about 1.5 acres, minuscule when compared the average of 50 ha in France, 178 ha in the United States and 273 ha in Canada. The small farm tradition in India is a result of the first farm reforms of independent India. Known as the Laws of Divided Inheritance, the reforms were meant to limit the accumulation of land by mandating redistribution and dividing the land among male inheritors of the previous generation. The perpetuation of these laws not only limits farm size but also bars women from ownership or inheritance.