The Unorganised Women Farmers and their Participation in Enhancing the GDP in India.

Dr.Murali Kallummal

In any farming community, both men and women play different roles complementing each other.  In the case of small and medium farmers, the role played by women needs to be viewed with a magnifying glass because in this category, they play a dual role by combining farming activities with that of taking care of family needs.  But this becomes a triple role, if they also take-up marketing of the agricultural products into their own hands.  By doing so they substitute men’s role in taking the product to the market or that of any middlemen’s.  In India, there is no alternative system of marketing or places where exclusively women participate in selling.  Owing to such domestic marketing structure lacunae, the above kind of substitutions of men’s role in farming and marketing by women are not captured and thus woman’s contribution is underestimated in the total GDP estimation. 

What goes unnoticed is revealed in the results of a survey-based study of the farmers’ market[1] (Uzhavar Sandhai) conducted in two districts in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu’s at the behest of the campaign ‘Make Trade Fair’.  Uzhavar Sandhai offers a successful tried and tested “city/town-centric model” of a direct marketing method.  We came up with some interesting facts regarding the role played by women. Nearly one third of the total farmers who flock these markets (103 markets spread across major urban centres) were women.  Even in this study, there were limitations associated with the one point-survey done and the underestimation associated with the many hidden faces (women) who did not get included in this estimate owing to general early morning domestic pressures like preparation of food etc.  So their contribution to GDP could be even higher. 

Out of the 330 respondents, 83 (25.2 %) were women farmers. Of the 83 women farmers, nearly 85.5 belonged to the category of small and medium.  When we take account of their share based on the land holding size, again a significant proportion were women farmers. 

Table 1: Composition of Female Farmers

Source: Survey conducted for a commissioned by the Oxfam GB, “Make Trade Fair”

It is important to note here that women coming daily in the early hours to the market and selling the goods reflects very positively on the gender-sensitive social fabric of the society in the region.  This 25 percent can go up if proper transport facility is made available to them.  Out of the 83 women respondents, 60 percent used the free bus transport provided by the government.  If the government provided more free transport, many more women could use this market to sell their produce.

Of the middle-aged farmers, 25 percent were women. Out of the 83 women respondents, an equal number of them were distributed among all age groups.  This is a very positive factor, which is unique to Tamil Nadu alone in southern India that women travel during the very early morning hours (for example: 4.00 a.m.) to reach the market.  Timings of this model of market may vary from place to place depending on the ‘gender sensitive’ nature of the local population.

The study also examined the weight carrying capacity of women visa vie male farmers.   It was interesting to find that but for the case of the 20 to 29 age group, the capacity to carry was nearly similar in all the other age groups.  Male farmers carried only 21 kg more than their counterparts from the opposite sex.  In the final analysis, what has been our observation based on the study is that when their double or triple roles are taken into account, women farmers can be equal or more than equal to their male counterparts in terms of their contribution to GDP.

Table 2: Women farmers to capacity to carry vegetables and fruits

Source: same as above

Uzhavar Sandhai began in 1999 and still is strong enough to withstand the retail chains opened by corporate firms.  Chennai is the only city that does not have a single Uzhavar Sandhai, Reliance Retail capitalized in the absence of such a market.  In Chennai for example Reliance Retail opened 14 fruits and vegetable shops in the name of “Reliance Fresh stores”.  They attract a total of about 12,000 visitors a day.  Even in this organised agricultural retail sector, the role played by women farmers would be underestimated. It was noted from the study that Reliance would be also more active in the area of organic farming and by way of contract farming.

It is clear that when agricultural production activities are supported by “fair markets”, it helps women to achieve empowerment and enhance their living standards.  On the other hand, the lack of a vibrant agricultural sector or rural economy can have direct adverse effect on women in terms of trade.  Any shortfall in food production will lead to large imports to overcome the gap and this forces the country, and making it vulnerable to richer nations and the vagaries of the international market.  

There are other associated problems like large scale migration from rural to urban areas, increase in crime rates and socio-economic problems, etc.  Food security should be one of the primary objectives of any country.  When a country fails to achieve this goal, it either uses the surplus of the export-led industries to import food or depends on “food aid”.  However, the later is an indicator of failed-state scenario, puts a country at the mercy of rich nations. 

So only when their contributions in farming and related marketing activities are accounted for in the total gross domestic product (GDP), we can assess the adverse impact of international policies such as that of the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) on women.  Thereby, capturing gender related information should primarily should take the form of an “bottom-up approach”, ie., to begin at the sub-federal and then to progress to federal and national levels.  Only then we can achieve various targets such as unemployment and poverty eradication within a rural economy which is otherwise rapidly expanding.  If it is possible to provide meaningful employment to large number of agricultural labourers, which thereby enhances the status of the whole village economic, this shall go a long way in building a strong nation.