Boost their productivity

A study by a group of teachers of Punjabi University has revealed that women farmhands in Punjab are in dire straits, with a shocking 94 per cent of them reeling under the burden of debt traps. Even as the state is beleaguered with a deepening agricultural crisis, what compounds the distress for women tillers are the gender inequalities in respect of wages as well as work. The statistics bared by the survey should propel the government to formulate policies designed to pull the poor women farmers out of the crisis. It is seen that women running households based on contractual or casual labour in the fields earn an abysmal Rs 77,198 annually; this income further pales into nothingness, considering that almost each of them has to repay Rs 53,916 — less than 20 per cent of them having sourced the loans from institutionalised banks. 

Access to credit as well as farm inputs is limited since, unfortunately, in the patriarchal setup, only around 13 per cent of the women working on farms own the land. The vicious debt cycle that they fall into is embroiled in exploitative practices. With a majority of them being illiterate, they toil in the fields in sun and rain to keep their hearth burning, ignorant of the standard working hours or minimum wages they are entitled to. It takes a further toll on their quality of life and health as well as of their families.

As per an Oxfam report of 2017, a huge number of women — 40 per cent of those in the labour force — depend upon agriculture as their primary source of income. Tilling is becoming the lot of more and more women as men are migrating to urban areas. The government has declared October 16 as Women Farmers’ Day. What they need more importantly are practical aids and incentives. They deserve to be provided training in irrigation, crops and in managing finance. It will boost productivity and enable them to lead a life of dignity and security.