Kudumbasree Women Farmers Groups- Contributing to Food Security

Transcription

1 Kudumbasree Women Farmers Groups- Contributing to Food Security Tanie Thomas District Mission Coordinator Kudumbashree, Ernakulam Farmer is a generic term. However, it has been used in the gender-biased sense as women who are engaged in agriculture have not been acknowledged as farmers. This is because the phenomenon of women being engaged in agriculture is seen as an extension of their household work. Hence Kudumbashree has stressed on the use of the term women farmers to ensure that role of women in agriculture is duly acknowledged and an identity is given to them. Context The size of landholding owned by the Below Poverty Line (BPL) households in 14 districts of Kerala was a significant indicator of their way of life until Due to the arrangement of land ownership titles in the state, the women of such households who owned land in the range ofaround 10 to 20 cents were identified as landless. Such women included those who were SCs, STs and minorities etc. were incapable of practicing cultivation on their land due to the meagerly available land for the purpose of cultivation. The major source of income was their engagement as farm labourers when necessary, on the larger landholdings of the landowners that would fetch them a wage rate in the range of Rs per day. The amount of cultivable land in the similarrange of 10 to 20 cents available per member of such households varied across regions. This was due to the difference in landscapes like the hilly terrains in some areas and forests in others,which left the women with hardly any choice apart from being engaged as farm labourers. Such alimit to availability of choices to the landless women, made them dependent on the large landowners for their livelihood. On the other hand, the landowners who had large landholdings preferred to leave their cultivablelands fallow, due to the unsatisfactory returns from cultivation. One of the other reasons for the same was attributed to the phenomenon of urbanization which influenced them to sell the land for better returns. Some of the landowners shifted their focus towards production of cash cropslike coffee, rubber and pepper etcetera instead of promoting the cultivation of food crops. The others migrated to the nearby towns and cities for alternate sources of income. On the whole, a lot of productive land was being left fallow which deprived the landless women to use their labour, making them vulnerable and were dispossessed of their livelihoods. Kerala lost over 500,000 hectares of paddy fields between 1980 and The

2 harvest almost halved to tonnes severely threatening Kerala s food security.at the same time, conversion of productive land for commercial purposes in a state like Kerala that depended on rice and vegetables led to the situation of severe food crisis. Such a situationalong with no way of ensuring production of food crops in Kerala was leading to a situation of food insecurity. The Intervention of Kudumbashree In the light of the above context, Kudumbashree, the State Poverty Eradication Mission for Kerala, decided to intervene by improving the livelihood of such landless women and also to ensure food security in Kerala. Kudumbashree gauged the willingness of the landless women who were earlier working as farm labourers in organizing themselves for the purpose of cultivation of food crops on the fallow lands. Through such an intervention, Kudumbashree aimed at transforming the identity of the women to farm producers from being farm labourers. The intervention by Kudumbashree for the women in the field of agriculture was enabled due to certain pre-existing factors. The foremost factor was the existing three-tier community institution of women in all the 14 districts of Kerala federated at the Gram Panchayat level named as Community Development Society (CDS) and as Area Development Society (ADS) at the ward level. CDS of Kudumbashree is a registered body formed during 1998 under the Travancore Cochin Literary Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act The three-tier community based organizational structure of Kudumbashree has Neighbourhood Groups (NHGs) as the lowest unit, comprising of women from the neighbouring poor households in Kerala. The women who were then farm labourers were members of NHGs in which thrift and credit activities were also in place. Such a community -based organizational structure served as a chief enabler for mobilizing the women as individuals or as groups for thepurpose of lease land farming. Secondly, ample availability of cultivable land which was left fallow added to the enabling conditions for the intervention. Lastly, the significant interface of CDS with the Gram Panchayats helped in making the fallow land available for lease land farming. All such congenial conditions enabled the intervention. The Intervention: Timeline, Strategy and Activities Kudumbashree, entered into the field of agriculture in 2004 when it first started to motivate the members of NHGs in all the districts of Kerala to take up lease land farming either as

3 individuals or in groups. Some women took up cultivation in their own individually available cultivable landand others took up land on lease. Those who worked in groups for collectives farming weremembers from different NHGs in the proximity. The women who were interested in farming forwarded their applications to the respective CDS at the Gram Panchayat level which stated the amount of land necessary for cultivation. Institutional Arrangement Access to cultivable land Lease land farming is an arrangement through which land is leased out by the landowner. In India, there is no legal arrangement that provides space for such transactions. However in Kerala, due to the ease with which the land is leased out has made lease land farming very popular so much so that policy advocacy for the same has been takingplace. The intervention utilized the existing interface of the CDS with the Local Self Government (inthis case, the Gram Panchayat) for procuring the fallow land from the landowners on a lease basis and negotiating for an economical lease rate. The lease land arrangement was either on a fixed rent basis or based on the crop harvested. On an average the rent for the fallow land varied depending on the crop season in the range of Rs per acre. Both, the women who were taking land on lease and the landowners, were made to enter into the lease land arrangement with the help of Gram Panchayat and CDS acting as the immediate body for resolving any disputes. Incentivizing farming In order to incentivize the women to take up lease land farming, Kudumbashree came up with the scheme for providing incentives with assistance from the State Government. Area incentives were given only to the women who had taken land on lease for making the land cultivable,whereas production incentives were given to all those women who were cultivating either in their own farm or on lease lands. The rate of incentives varied according to the type of food crops grown ensuring that no incentive was provided for plantation or cash crops. Area incentive was disbursed initially before harvest which on an average was about 10% of the production cost. Production incentive was disbursed to the eligible women who had a crop produce of more thana certain average level of production determined by the government. The incentives differed for own land and lease land. For example, ten percent extra of the incentive rate was given for those engaged in production on lease land. Initially the incentives were sanctioned only when commercial cultivation was undertaken, i.e. individuals cultivating more than 0.1 Ha and

4 groups cultivating more than 0.8 Ha were considered as commercial cultivators. For those groups who followed organic farming, an additional 50 percent of the incentive was provided when certification from agriculture office was received. Labour, selection of crops and support from agencies After ensuring the availability of land to the women, the sole decision of the food crops to be grown was taken by the women. The usual crops grown were paddy, tapioca, banana, carrot, black-eyed beans, brinjal, bitter gourd, ginger, turmeric and tuber etcetera depending on the season, type of geography, returns from produce and available sources of irrigation. The labour necessary for the activities in cultivation was provided by the women of the groups. In cases where individual women had taken up farming, the fellow women farmers provided the necessary labour with the decision of the payments resting with the women. Theintervention sought alliances with Kerala Agricultural University for the training of women farmers to ensure better yield. The women could sell their produce in the local market or the traders themselves collected the produce from the fields. Institutional tie-ups were sought with Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Keralam (VFPCK) and SupplyCo who had their own collection centres so as to facilitate the sale of produce of the women farmers. The Government of Kerala ensured that the women farmers gained a certain level of income from their produce for which partnerships were sought with various crop produce marketing agencies. The Local Self Government also provided the necessary facilitation for marketing and sale of the produce by organizing weekly fairs and market. The groups were provided input subsidies, through the agricultural department under the Gram Panchayats. Streamlining the Intervention In the formative years of the intervention, the activities did not gain much momentum and very less area of land was brought under cultivation. Apart from this, the distribution of incentives to the eligible cultivators was also poor. During 2006 it was realised that, if incentives did not reach those women who were eligible, it could demotivate them from farming. Such an affair would on one hand make the women vulnerable and on the other hand pose a threat to the state of Kerala with regard to food security. Hence the intervention started scaling up activities like bringing fallow land under cultivation, incentive distribution and promoting groupbased farming. Putting Women collective over individual women farmers

5 It was being noticed that there were more individuals than groups in lease land farming and hence only group based farming was promoted then onwards. Strict monitoring was done to ensure the same. Since the groups were formed by women who came from same or neighbouringnhgs, the emotional connect among the women led to the sharing of responsibilities of the agricultural tasks. It also fostered consensus building among the women regarding the decisions related to farming. The group based farming nurtured the idea of peer learning with regards to agriculture. It also accounted for the division and distribution of labour on the lands as and when necessary. Group farming enabled the cultivation of different kinds of food crops at the same time depending on the amount of land leased. In many ways, group farming led to the distribution of input costs, risks and profits. The produce from the group based farming met both the consumption and production for income needs of the households of the women. Reduction in labour costs Convergence with NREGA As far as farm labourwas concerned, introduction of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in 2005 aided the intervention. On implementation of NREGA in the state of Kerala, the land development and water conservation activities for the farming groups received support from the NREGA labour. The wages for the same were paid by the government. This helped in reducing the input costs of labour for the agricultural activities. Sucha convergence with NREGA was facilitated by the Gram Panchayats. Institutional Innovation Farming as Joint Liability Group (JLG) Not undermining the significance of land and labour, out of the previous experiences of Kudumbashree s intervention in agriculture, it was found that the main constraint for the groups was access to agricultural credit. If they did manage to procure credit, it was at very high interestrate, charged by the money lenders (where the interest rate went up to 20%). They even procured internal loan from NHG at the rate of 12%. By 2010, it was crucial forkudumbashree to enablethe farming groups to access credit at a low interest rate. This ultimately led to an institutional innovation in due course of the intervention thereby initiating the formation of Joint Liability Groups (JLGs). Based on the guidelines of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), a policy was formulated during 2010 to organize and register groups of women farmers as JLGs. The concept of individual farming was withdrawn by the introduction of JLGs and henceforth only group based farming was promoted.

6 A JLG consists of around 4 to 10 members with a President and a Secretary formed by women who were members of same or different NHGs. The groups which were formed earlier were then brought under the banner of JLGs. The JLGs were registered in CDS with an affiliation number known as Unique Identification Number (UID). JLGs maintained a register on their farm activities, economics and calendar of operations. The groups in turn produced the documents as and when necessary to the organisations like ADS, CDS and Panchayat etc. UID along with a Management and Information System (MIS) solved the purpose of tracking the performance of the JLGs. For each JLG formed and linked, NABARD encouraged the formation of JLGs by providing a promotional incentive of Rs 2000 per JLG to the facilitating agency. In the course of the intervention, CDS was made the facilitating agency which was eligible for the promotional incentive. With constant efforts of Kudumbashree, JLGs were also brought under the purview of interest subsidy scheme (5% subsidy on 7% interest agricultural loan) facilitated by the Government of Kerala. Meetings were conducted with banks for having a common set of banking procedures for Kudumbashree JLGs across the state, especially for the documents to be produced by the groups while opening the savings and loan accounts which could reduce the complexity for both the banks and the groups. JLGs were also made eligible for Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme. In this scheme, for Kudumbashree JLGs apart from 5% subsidy on interest, they could also retake the amount once paid back and would need to pay interest only for the amount left as loan. Each JLG member was made eligible for personal accidental insurance. Groups could continue in the scheme for three years with one time documentation. In the course of the intervention, insurance was also provided to the JLGs through the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme, promoted by banks and State Agricultural Insurance promoted by the agricultural department. Outreach of the Intervention With the intervention having undergone the above mentioned trajectories, women from all the districts in Kerala progressively got involved in farming. The outreach of the intervention can be gauged from the table in annexure 1 and 2. It is strongly evident that with the institutional innovation of bringing in the concept of JLGs during 2010, the distribution of incentives for farming increased to a great extent. In addition to this, a simultaneous increase in the area brought under cultivation of food crops was seen. (Please refer to the tables in annexures for data till 2014).

7 Impact of the Intervention The impact of the intervention was multidimensional, as far as the livelihoods of the womenunder drudgery is concerned. The intervention led to the development of land as a natural resource as well. The state wide intervention has empowered the women farmers in Kerala andalso indicated the possibility of the same elsewhere in the country. The power of women collectives is evident from the intervention in terms of decision-making about farming. The intervention in many ways has opened multiple avenues for those landless women which have been summarized as follows. Farm Labourers to Producers to Farm Managers The landless women who were otherwise wage labourers were now playing the role of farm producers. Starting from gaining access to the cultivable fallow land from the landowners and selecting the food crops to the distribution of profits after the sale of the produce, the women were the sole decision makers. Thus, the transition from being a farm labourer to becoming a farm manager has restored the dignity and identity of the women farmers in Kerala. Enhanced Income Before the intervention took off in 2004, the women had seasonal nature of the wages which put them on the radar of vulnerability. The involvement of women in farming as producers led to an enhanced income due to the diversity of crops that could be grown. The consumption needs of the women were easily met through group farming. The revenue generated from the produce differed depending on the crop which was in turn utilized for the repayment of loans, meeting theinput costs and enabling group savings. In terms of share of income among the members of a group, different crops gave different amounts in the hands of women. One acre of paddy on an average led to the production of 1500 kg over a period of 3-4 months with the total input costs being around Rs per acre. Due to the initiative of Kerala government, the paddy was sold at Rs 18 per kg to SupplyCo thereby leading to an income of Rs Depending on the number of women and their consensus, the profits were shared. In addition to being farm producers, they were involved in NREGA work as well as and when it was available. Thus, group based farming provided the women with an income with which they bought gold, educated their children, constructed their own house etc. The women also realized their dream of buying land from their own income. Preference for innovative farming practices

8 Apart from becoming the farm managers, the women farmers built up preference for a certain farming practices for instance, organic farming. Others who received training on various kinds of farming appreciated, acknowledged and applied zero budget natural farming, integrated farming etc. Such farming practices indicate the minimal use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides etc. Soil fertility and productivity of fallow land Having utilized the fallow land for cultivation, the women farmers converted the leased land into a fertile one. Land as a natural resource was replenished due to the cultivation of crops by the women. Such phenomenon has added to the productivity of otherwise fallow land. It has further incentivized the agricultural department to take active interest in identifying fallow land for the purpose of farming. Translation to a nation-wide scheme MahilaKissanSashaktheekaranPariyojana (MKSP) In 2011, on the basis of collective farming experiences of Kudumbashree, MahilaKissanSashaktheekaranPariyojana was formulated as a sub component of National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) for promoting agriculture by women across the country. The intervention by Kudumbashree in 2004 is currently functioning under the banner of MKSP which has set an example for all the women working as labourers in the country to aspire to become farm producers. Women as Master Farmers Role Models The intervention, as a result of MKSP, created the space for identification of Master Farmers from within the community to share the best practices of farming. Women farmers were given an opportunity to share their experiences in farming, credit linking strategies, their problems in farming and utilization of their indigenous knowledge and practices to promote environment friendly agricultural techniques. Such Master Farmers are now being looked upon as role models for the women who wish to become farm managers from farm labourers. Issues and Challenges faced in the Intervention The transformation of women from being farm labourers to becoming farm producers in duecourse of the intervention, had to face different kinds of issues and challenges. The issues and challenges broadly pertained to the aspects of land, labour and capital apart from

9 the constraints in access to other natural resources for agriculture. Looking into the issues and challenges as discussed below, the case study recommends the way forward in the concluding section. Availability of Land Suitable availability of cultivable land was a major concern as groups of landless women farmers mainly depended on lease land for their cultivation. Fragmented lands was a major issue as the majority of the groups were offered distantly placed plots which often caused more difficulty to manage as compared to continuous ones. Collective leasing as a practicesince the fallow land was made fertile and productive through the women farmers, it made the landowners to rethink the idea of leasing out land to the women on a regular basis. Due to this, it was found that more often the land owners offered their land only for a short period, which in turn incurred a heavy loss for the group. In addition to this, sometimes the rates levied by land owners for leasing out the land, differed in different localities. Moreover, there were no clear incentives on the part of landowners to be concerned about the development of asset-based activities on the cultivable land. As a result of the disincentives on the part of landowners, such a practice, if continued, could lead to a situation of relapse thereby making the women farmers vulnerable. Convergence of labour with NREGA In addition to the above issues and challenges, the sustained utilization of NREGA labour to decrease the input costs of production remained a challenge. Though initially NREGA labour was engaged in the necessary land development activities on the leased land yet subsequently engagement of NREGA labour on such lands was made a one-time affair. Irrigation Facility As far as the natural resources were concerned, it was noticed that the farming groups spent a huge amount for irrigation. Scarcity of water was one of the major issues encountered in the intervention. Expenses on electricity brought more difficulties among the groups as such expenses were not included in the subsidies for irrigation facilities provided from agricultural department. Apart from this, the women farmers were not aware of the judicious management of water for irrigation, water conservation and also maintenance of soil health, soil conservationetcetera. Facilitation for credit and incentives

10 Facilitation of credit formed a significant component of the intervention which enabled the women to meet the necessary costs of production. For the credit requirements, the farming groups depended on various sources such as linkage loan, internal loan disbursed by NHGs and on money lenders. Many of the farming groups were also availing credit facilities from private money lenders on higher interest rates. The reluctance of commercial banks to finance JLGs of Kudumbashree was also a major hindrance to agricultural growth. The groups were unable to produce required documents and banks often raised the technical objection to release loans. Since majority of the groups had their cultivation on lease land, it led to the limitations inproducing documents. The financial institutions were not able to provide hassle free (like KKC) and timely services to women farmers. The women farmers were unable to receive production incentives as designed in the intervention due to the eligibility criterion of meeting a certain level of crop produce. The Kudumbashree JLGs were not often brought under the purview of insurance coverage of crops. Technological challenges Though the women farmers were made familiar with necessary capacity building techniques for ensuring better farming practices, yet the use of such techniques were limited. The convergence of various extension departments for the provision of technical inputs to the women farmers remained a challenge. Since the extension services to be provided were generally decided by the concerned departments, it did not take into account the actual requirements of the women farmers. Plugging the Gaps For ensuring the sustainability of such an intervention, it would require efforts from the viewpoint of forming policies for lease land farming such that the landowners are incentivized to lease out their land. The intervention provides evidence for the formulation of such policy and efforts are being taken in the same direction by Kudumbashree. To ensure that the women farmers have reduced input costs of labour, it requires convergence of NREGA labour on an institutional basis. In addition to this, a robust monitoring and evaluation system needs to be put in place for measuring the performance of the women farming groups. Such a mechanism would remove the redundancies in capturing the data on JLGs. It would also help in identifying the necessary support needed during the course of farming depending on the type of crops cultivated.

11 Once, such needs are identified, and then the concept of Farmer Facilitation Centres (FFC) under MKSP can be utilized to the best. Though extension of credit was one of the significant efforts in the intervention yet insurance of crops remains a far cry. Kudumbashree has been trying to create systems for risk mitigation so as to reduce the vulnerability of the landless women farmers. Savings linked insurance coverage of crops would be one of the suggestions in this regards. In addition to this, it must be ensured that the women who have been identified as Master Farmers, transfer their knowledge and expertiseto boost the skills of their peers engaged in agriculture. As far as the potential of replication of the intervention is concerned, the emergence of MKSP ata pan-india level on the lines of the Kudumbashree s intervention, speaks volumes about efforts towards empowerment of women in agriculture. Conclusion Despite the above mentioned issues and challenges, the intervention has made the landless women, farm managers, which otherwise would have remained a distant dream in terms of acknowledging the significance of women in Indian agriculture. Becoming managers, the participation of such women farmers in agriculture was not limited to tokenism. The women rather controlled the decisions concerning the farming practices, cropping pattern, were not limited to their households and their coming together as JLGs led to having the necessary bargaining power in the agricultural crop produce market. Though existing community institution of women acted as an enabler for the intervention, yet it can be argued that the intervention was able to channelize the neighbourhood groups (NHGs) of women in the right direction. The intervention fostered the necessary solidarity among the women farmers that was reflected in the collective decision making for farming activities. Apart from decision making, farm labour responsibilities were shared among the women leading to trust and reciprocity. Kudumbashree s intervention increased the choices of women in terms of identifying the type of crops to be grown on the field. In this way the women met their consumption needs and were able to sell the surplus as well. The women stood up to become the pillars to generate enough food to feed their families. With the outreach of the state wide intervention in all the fourteen districts of Kerala, it would be apt to address the women as the pillars of food security in Kerala.

12 The intervention offered the vulnerable landless women enhanced sources of income through farming thereby reducing their dependency on landowners for daily wages. The farming groups instilled in the women a sense of self-confidence and empowerment both economic and social empowerment. Apart from this, the intervention has ushered in the revival of various environment friendly techniques of farming. The development of otherwise fallow land was also an outcome of the intervention. Had it not been for the success of the intervention by Kudumbashree for empowering the women in agriculture, it would not have led to the formulation of the national level MahilaKissanSashaktheekaranPariyojana (MKSP). With the execution of this scheme, women are now being identified as Master Farmers thereby leading to transfer of knowledge about good agricultural practices and help fellow women sustain their livelihood.

13 Annexures Annexure 1: Year-on-Year data of farming groups (From years 2011 till date appear in Annexure 2 due to formulation of MKSP) Sl No Area Financial No of Incentives Beneficiaries cultivated year groups (Cr) (ha) Annexure 2: State Level data on JLGs in 14 districts (Till May 2014) JLG number (present) total Rural members Capacity building Target Capacity building Achievement Technical training Target Achievement Percentage 107 Farmer Field Centre Target 972 Achievement 916 Percentage 94 Innovative/Indigenous practices Target 140 Achievement 119 Percentage 85 Integrated Practices Target 1900 Achievement 1559 Percentage 82 Hi-Tech Agriculture Target 14 Achievement 10 Percentage 71

14 Post Harvest Markets Target 140 Achievement 79 Percentage 57 Master farmers capacity building Target Achievement Percentage 99.7 Master farmers Technical Training Target Achievement 8393 Percentage 79 Seed Bank Target 140 Achievement 66 Percentage 47