Feminization in Agriculture: An Overview

The day of women farmers of India starts before sunrise and continues after sunset. Because every single activity of agriculture women involved in large number as compared to male even more numbers than the male farmer. “The feminization of agriculture refers to the measurable increase of women's participation in the agricultural sector, particularly in the developing world”. In India out of total women in rural 85 percent are engaged in agricultural activities but only 13 percent has their own land, though women play very important role in every farm activity. Women’s participation in rural labour markets varies considerably across regions but in India they comprise 33 percent of the agriculture labor force and 48 percent of the self-employed farmers. According to Economic Survey 2017-18 says that with growing rural to urban migration by men, there is ‘feminisation’ of agriculture sector, with increasing number of women in multiple roles as cultivators, entrepreneurs, and labourers. According to Agricultural census the number of operational holding in India is increased from it was 11011602 during 1995-96 and 20439148 in 2015-16 respectively, in which Andhra Pradesh state leading in the number of female operational holding with 2564541 number of female followed by Maharashtra state with 2363706 females.