A STUDY ON STATUS OF AGRICULTURE AND ROLE OF WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE OF CHHATTISGARH STATE

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1 A STUDY ON STATUS OF AGRICULTURE AND ROLE OF WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE OF CHHATTISGARH STATE Dr.G.PadmaGouri,Mrs. GayatriIyengar, 1 H.O.D (Education), 2 Assistant Professor (Education) Abstract:India is known as land of Agriculture. Agriculture is the main occupation of the people. Around 70% of the people are depending on agriculture and allied activities in rural areas in India. Women occupy an important place in Indian societies. They are endowed with versatile qualities. With the change in time, the role of women in the society also started changing. Their initiative to accept challenges to meet her personal needs, needs of her family helped her to become economically independent. Economic independence motivated women to occupy and render their services in various fields. Women participation in various fields brought with it women empowerment. India is a land of agriculture where in Chhattisgarh is known as the rice bowl of central India. Women in rural India work hand in hand with men in almost all the fields, especially in the agriculture. By initiating innovations in agriculture women contributed a remarkable portion not only in the development of her family but also in the society. This paper emphasizes the role of women in agriculture in Chhattisgarh. In addition this paper contains a short case study of women farmer Mrs. TulikaPandey an woman agro entrepreneur of Chhattisgarh State. I. INTRODUCTION India is predominantly an agriculture based country. 70% of its population is rural; of those households, 60% engage in agriculture as their main source of income. It is a major income field of India s economy. Here agriculture and allied activities are the main occupations of the people in rural India. In these agricultural activities women play an important role. Rural Indian Women are extensively involved in agricultural activities. However the nature and extent of their involvement differs with the variations in agro production systems. The mode of female participation in agricultural production varies with the landowning status of farm households. The role of women include producing agricultural crops, taming animals,processing and preparing food, working for wages in agricultural or the rural enterprises, collecting fuel and water, engaging in trade and marketing, caring for family members and maintaining their homes. Table:01 Total workers in India 2011 Census Population/Workers Persons Male Female Population 1,21,05,69,573 62,31,21,843 58,74,47,730 Workers 48,17,43,311 33,18,65,930 14,98,77,381 Percentage of workers Total Population 83,34,63,448 42,76,32,643 40,58,30,805 Workers Rural 34,85,97,535 22,67,63,068 12,18,34,467 Percentage of workers Population Urban 37,71,06,125 19,54,89,200 All Rights Reserved 297

2 Workers 13,31,45,776 10,51,02,862 2,80,42,914 Percentage of workers Source: Office of the Registrar General, India Table:02Percentage of Female Main workers to Total Female Population under Broad Categories 1981 to 2011 Source: Office of the Registrar General, India Census Year Percentage to Total Female Population Female Main Agricultural Household Other Cultivators workers Labourers Industry workers Chhattisgarh is a state in Central India. It is the 10th largest state in India with a geographical area of 137, 90 thousand ha. Chhattisgarh is the 16th most-populated state of the nation. It is a source of electricity and steel for India. Chhattisgarh accounts for 15% of the total steel produced in the country. The state was formed on 1st November 2000 by partitioning 16 Chhattisgarhi-speaking south-eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh. Raipur was made its capital. Chhattisgarh borders the states of Madhya Pradesh in the north-west, Maharastra in the south-west, Andhra Pradesh in the south, Odisha in the east, Jharkhand in the north-east and Uttar Pradesh in the north. Raipur, Bhilai, Durg, Bilaspur, Korba and Rajnandgaon are the major of Chhattisgarh cities.bastar plateau, Chhattisgarh plains and Northern hills are the prime geographical landmarks that have been marked as the productive areas of Chhattisgarh agriculture. Paddy, maize, jowar, groundnut, gram, and wheat are major crops grown in Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarh known for rice cultivation and called rice bowl of India. Horticulture is a significant extension of agriculture industry in the state of Chhattisgarh. Medicinal herbs, flowers and aromatic plants form the key component of horticulture in the state. The government of Chhattisgarh offers cooperatives to the farmers of the state to enable them to buy best quality seeds and agricultural tools. Also, from time to time, the state and district level co-operatives provide loan facilities to the underprivileged peasants. Chhattisgarh agriculture, with each passing day is gaining a new momentum, which is resulting in the rural development of the state. Table : 03Population Structure in Chhattisgarh State. Description Rural Urban Population (%) Total Population Male Population (49.97%) (51.12%) Female Population (50.03%) (48.87%) All Rights Reserved 298

3 II. MAJOR CROPS OF CHHATTISGARH AREA, PRODUCTION & YIELD Various crops are grown by the cultivators in Chhattisgarh. The rice (68.8%) was found to be major crop of the state. The cultivators are also found to be grown Tiwra (6.5%), Gram (4.6%), paddy (2.6%), Kodo-Kutki (2.3%) and wheat (1.9%). Maize, Urd, Niger, Soybean, Arhar, Mustard, Kulthi, Alsi, Groundnut, Til, Masoor, Pea, Moong, Jwar, Urd, Sunflower and safflower are also grown in small proportion by the cultivators in the state. Changes in Production The total production of Kharif crops in Chhattisgarh found to be decreased by per cent in the year ( thousand t) over the year ( thousand t), while the total production of Rabi crops increased with per cent. The production of Cereals, Pulses and Oilseeds was found to be increased by 167.5, and 95.5 per cent. As regards to production of all major crops the production summer paddy (1384.0%), Niger (754.8%), Gram (232.2%), Rice (163.50%), Tiwra (105. 4%), soybean (73.4%), Til (73.9%), rabimoong (71.3%), wheat (53.2%), Pea (49.5%), Masoor (47.1%), Maize (47.8%),Jwar (44.6%), Sunflower (21.8%), Rabi groundnut (16.8%), Arhar (12.8%) and Kharifmoong (11.3%), was found to be increased while, the production of Linseed (-58.2%), Kulthi (- 37.1%), Kharifkulthi (-23.4%), Mustard (- 21.8%), safflower (-17.2%), Kodo-Kutki (-16.8%), Rabi urd (-11.2%), Kharifurd (-10.0%) and other cereals (-3.1%), was found to be decreased in the year as compared to Figure: 01 1: Percentage Area under Crops in Chhattisgarh ( ). All Rights Reserved 299

4 Soil types The soil types are diverse because of the topographical variations in Chhattisgarh. In the upper part of the landscape, the soils are usually shallow and young, with less developed features, and are frequently highly eroded. The soils of Chhattisgarh are classified into five major orders (Table 3.3). Entisols are extremely shallow, very well drained, and sandy-loam in texture. The shallow depth, low water holding capacity, poor physical condition and low soil fertility are the major constraints to their use for productive cropping. The major soil type are covered area in the state is thosand ha, which comprises 39 per cent Inceptisol (Matasi-Sandyloam), 12 per cent Entisol (Bhata-gravely) 1 per cent Bharri soil respectively. Alfisols are medium deep, well drained, clay-loam soils on gently sloping undulating to rolling plateau with moderate erosion hazards, usually occurring on the mid-slopes. They covered are 27 per cent Alfisols (Dorsa-clayloam), Vertisols are deep, moderately well drained, clayey soils, mostly occurring in the lower parts of the very gently sloping, 21 per cent area were covered of vertisoil, undulating plateau with a low erosion hazard. The soils have good water holding capacity and possess considerable crop production potential. Table:04Soils of Chhattisgarh State. Type of Soil Area ( 000 ha) Percent of Total 1. Inceptisol (Matasi-Sandy Loam) Alfisols (Dorsa-Clay loam) Vertisols (Kanhar- clayey) Entisol (Bhata-gravely) Bharri Total Source: Agricultural Statistics,2010 Directorate of Agriculture, Government of Chhattisgarh Weather and Climate The climate of Chhattisgarh is tropical. It is hot and humid because of its proximity to the tropical of cancer and its dependence on the monsoon for rains. In the temperature varies between 30 and 45 C (86 and 113 F) in summer and 0 C and 25 C (32 and 77 F) during winter.however, extremes in temperature can be observed with scales falling to less than 0 C to 49 C. The monsoon season is from late June to October and receives an average of mm of rainfall. The maximum rainfall in the month of September (32.23%) followed by August (30.06%), July (22.84%) and June (14.56%) Winters are pleasant with low temperatures and less humidity. Table: 05. Rainfall pattern of Chhattisgarh (Last Decade) Month 2011 Percentage June July August September October Total Source: Directorate of Agriculture CG. All Rights Reserved 300

5 III. WOMEN AND AGRICULTURE Some historians believe that it was woman who first domesticated crop plants and thereby initiated the art and science of farming. While men went out hunting in search of food, women started gathering seeds from the native flora and began cultivating those of interest from the point of view of food, feed, fodder, fiber and fuel. Women have played and continue to playa key role in the conservation of basic life support systems such as land, water, flora and fauna. They have protected the health of the soil through organic recycling and promoted crop security through the maintenance of varietal diversity and genetic resistance. Therefore, without the total intellectual and physical participation of women, it will not be possible to popularize alternative systems of land management to shifting cultivation, arrest gene and soil erosion, and promote the care of the soil and the health of economic plants and farm animals. (Prasad & Singh 1992) That women play a significant and crucial role in agricultural development and allied fields including in the main crop production, livestock production, horticulture, post-harvest operations, agro/ social forestry, fisheries, etc. is a fact long taken for granted but also long ignored. The nature and extent of women s involvement in agriculture, no doubt, varies greatly from region to region. Even within a region, their involvement varies widely among different ecological sub-zones, farming systems, castes, classes and stages in the family cycle. But regardless of these variations, there is hardly any activity in agricultural production, except ploughing in which women are not actively involved. In some of the farm activities like processing and storage, women predominate so strongly that men workers are numerically insignificant. (Aggarwal 2003) Studies on women in agriculture conducted in India and other developing and under developed countries all point to the conclusion that women contribute far more to agricultural production than has generally been acknowledged. Recognition of their crucial role in agriculture should not obscure the fact that farm women continue to be concerned with their primary functions as wives, mothers and homemakers. It may not be out of place to mention here that considering their dual responsibilities within and outside the home, it would be in the fitness of things that more and more in the village training is organized for rural farm women to suit their convenience with due realization that institutional training is important in its own place. Rural Indian women are extensively involved in agricultural activities. However the nature and extent of their involvement differs with the variations in agro production systems. The mode of female participation in agricultural production varies according to the requirement of the family, society and the village at large. Their roles range from managers to landless laborers. Firstly, women have been the primary seed keepers, processors. They have been the both experts and producers of food, from seed to the kitchen.the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement impacts women s knowledge of and control over seed. Secondly, Women carry the heavier work burden in food production, and because of gender discrimination get lower returns for their work.thirdly, their position vis-à-vis WTO is also more vulnerable because as the livelihoods and incomes of farmers in general, and women agriculturists in particular are eroded, they are displaced from productive roles, women in agriculture and their status is further devalued, while the patriarchal power of those who control assets and benefit from asset All Rights Reserved 301

6 due to globalisation is increased, other social processes are triggered which result in increased violence against women. IV. MULTI-DIMENSIONAL ROLE OF WOMEN (i) Agriculture: Sowing, transplanting, weeding, irrigation, fertilizer application, plant protection, harvesting, winnowing, storing etc. (ii) Domestic: Cooking, child rearing, water collection, fuel wood gathering, household maintenance etc. (iii) Allied Activities: Cattle management, fodder collection, milking etc. Mainly rural women are engaged in agricultural activities in three different ways depending on the socio-economic status of their family and regional factors. They are work as: (i) Paid Laborers (ii) Cultivator doing labor on their own land and (iii) Managers of certain aspects of agricultural production by way of labor supervision and the participation in post-harvest operations. V. WOMEN IN CHHATTISGARH In many ways, the women of Chhattisgarh enjoy a unique position within the country. The proportion of women in the population. The sex ratio is universally acknowledged as an indicator of women swellbeing, survival and status, and in this the position of Chhattisgarh is second among states in the country and well above the national average. In undivided Madhya Pradesh also, Chhattisgarh enjoyed a special place where women were concerned. Unlike women in many other parts of India where the culture of exclusion and seclusion seems to prevail, women in Chhattisgarh are articulate, visible, and play a major role in public production. This can be understood with reference to the role that women play in different areas of livelihood systems. In Chhattisgarh, women are the major agricultural workers. This is so in the production of rice our main food crop, as well as in pulses, millets and the many oilseeds. They work in each and every aspect of crop production, preservation and storage. In certain parts of the state like Abujhmar and Sihawa, women are also known to use the plough, a function that is taboo and prohibited for them in almost all other parts of the country, indeed the world. Apart from crop weeding, manuring, harvesting, women are the leading players in all post-harvest and storage operations. Women also play a major role in the collection and processing of the many kinds of uncultivated foods and medicinal plants found in Chhattisgarh. Many of these foods are collections from the forest, and women use them for maintaining household food security and nutrition needs outside the market system. Women are the primary gatherers of all uncultivated foods, and inheritors of an ancient knowledge system about food bio diversity. Women are also the keepers of the seeds. As stated above, women are responsible for all postharvest operations. In traditional Chhattisgarh, the crop to be harvested as seed is identified in the field of standing crop, and women take special care while reaping these. The extremely complex knowledge of seed storage and preservation including its technical aspects isin the hands of the women. The important economic position of women can be seen also among migrant workers from Chhattisgarh who are major contributors to the construction industry nationwide. Many of the metropolitan highways, buildings and national industries have been built by the migrant workers from Chhattisgarh, and the women of Chhattisgarh have been more than equal contributors in these All Rights Reserved 302

7 Sl. No. International Journal of Recent Trends in Engineering & Research (IJRTER) Table: 06 Sex-Wise Distribution Of Workers And Percentage Of Cultivators,Agricultural Labourers, Workers In Household Industry And Otherworkers Census State/Union Total Percentage to Total Workers Territory Workers Male/ Female/ Total Cultivators Agricultural Laborers Household Industry CHHATTISGARH Male Female Total Other Workers VI. CASE STUDY: WOMEN FARMER MRS. TULIKAPANDEY Mrs. TulikaPandey an agro-entrepreneur added cultivation to her other career oriented activities to promote use of agricultural machinery which can be affordable to the farmers. Her quest finally ended in designing and providing modified and improvised modern agriculture machinery and making it available to the farmers. At present she is working on post-harvest machinery. Few suggestions of this woman farmer to her co farmers were gathered in the interview conducted by the author: - Government should develop specific vocational training programs for farmers. - Farmers should be made aware of yielding double crops in their field. Adding to this she reported farmers in Haryana yield even three crops in a year. - Paddy crop should be followed by Maize as it has international market. Further she adds maize crop requires less water and gives high yields. - Farmers should be made aware of modern agricultural machinery such as Rotavator, Seeding machine etc. which will increase their yield with less manpower. - With regard to role of women she describes, the rural women work in all the activities of the cultivation along with men. VII. CONCLUSION To conclude, India is the land of agriculture wherein Chhattisgarh state is popularly called as Rice Bowl of India. Now Chhattisgarh is enriched not only with men but also with women farmers. The study reflectes that our farmers should also concentrate on double cropping, usage of modern machinery for farming and make use of the various programs launched by the Chhattisgarh Government for development of agriculture. Acknowledgment I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude to Mrs. TulikaPandey for providing me an opportunity to conduct interview with her. She has provided valuable information not only about herself but also about the status of farmers in Chhattisgarh State and also various programmes launched by Chhattisgarh Government for the upliftment of thefarmers. References: 1. CherrupreetKaur/April 13, 2016, Times of India 2. Dr.IlinaSen, Agriculture Sector in India, A situational Analysis of women and girls in Chhattisgarh, Pg. 1 to Impact of WTO on women in Agriculture, Research Foundation Science & Technology, New Delhi Pg SeraphinusKispotta et al, International journal of Research in management, Economics & Commerce, ISSN X, Vol.06,Issue 08,August 2016,pg All Rights Reserved 303

8 5. Statistical Profile on women labour , Population, Census Data, Chapter -1, Page 5 to 9 6. Study No.113, State of Agriculture in Chhattisgarh, Agro Economic Research Centre for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Jawaharlal Nehru VishwaVidyalaya, Jabalpur (M.P) 2014 Pg. 23,25,31,33,34 7. Source: 8. Source 9. Source All Rights Reserved 304