Women friendly agricultural hand tool to improve the quality of life of rural women farmers in Madhya Pradesh and Jharkand, India
Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy. Agriculture in India is largely dependent on manual labour and hand tools, as mechanised farming methods are not commonly used. Although in other parts of rural India farmers use hand tools for many farming operations, in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand manual agriculture is still the most common practice. Manual agriculture employs a large number of rural women, the so-called ‘hand labourers’. Specially in these areas, well thought tools have the potential to make agricultural operations faster, thus improving the household economy. Moreover, appropriate tools reduce the labour intensity of some agricultural tasks (like weeding) and improve the farmers’ quality of life by reducing body pain.
When we discuss regenerative agricultural practices is it common to forget about the socio-economic aspects of making regenerative agriculture mainstream. Regenerative agricultural practices are most of the time labour intensive. Therefore, when implementing them in a rural context it is key to develop interventions that will favour the integration of these practices in the farming system without adding too much additional labour. In the states of Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand in India, this means developing women-friendly hand tools that are affordable, ergonomic and that will make farming more efficient.