Understanding the Women’s Role as Agriculture Laborers and Their Participation in Agriculture Economy

Examining the Impact of Women's Role as Agriculture Laborers on Economic and Social Development

by Gaurav Saini*,

- Published in Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education, E-ISSN: 2230-7540

Volume 14, Issue No. 1, Oct 2017, Pages 528 - 532 (5)

Published by: Ignited Minds Journals


ABSTRACT

Agriculture represents very nearly 60 of total employment in India which is, overall, rural-based. It is discouraging to take note of that in the rural part the growth rate of agricultural employment is abysmally low. Rural workers in agriculture establish the biggest segment of India's work drive. Without any critical land change measures, a vast area of the rural work drive is landless and resource poor. Outrageous centralization of land possession and use perseveres even today. Illiteracy, absence of schooling, poor states of wellbeing and sanitation and malnourishment keep on being critical issues that haunt Indian villages. Agriculture is the critical area of any nation which is the fundamental requirement for the flourishing and nation’s growth. The agriculture segment is the economy’s foundation in the developing nations, which supply food and give employment to most of the populace. Agriculture not just give raw material to the industrial part yet additionally fill in as a market for its items and is thusly associated with all-around development of the nation. The world has seen the life and administrations of female agricultural laborers who have contributed a lot to the advancement and prosperity of the societies, countries and the world everywhere in the cultural, economic, and social otherworldly fields. In this Article we studied the Women’s role Agriculture Laborers and their Participation in Agriculture Economy

KEYWORD

women, agriculture laborers, participation, agriculture economy, rural workers, landless, resource poor, illiteracy, health, sanitation, malnutrition, developing nations, industrial sector, female agricultural laborers, advancement, prosperity, societies, economic, social, cultural

I. INTRODUCTION

Rural Indian women are broadly associated with agricultural exercises. Be that as it may, the nature and degree of their involvement varies with the varieties in agro-production frameworks. The method of female interest in agricultural production changes with the landowning status of farm households. Their job ranges from managers to landless laborers. In by and large farm production, women's average commitment is assessed at 55% to 66% of the all-out labor with percentages, a lot higher in specific locales. In the Indian Himalayas, two or three bullocks works for around 1064 hours, a man works for 1212 hours and a woman for 3486 hours in a year on one hectare ranch, an accept that depicts ladies' basic pledge to farming creation. The time of 2001– 11 has seen a decline in the quantity of cultivators and high increment in the quantity of agricultural laborers. This is exasperating the development for India. Out of the blue since freedom, agricultural laborers have dwarfed cultivators. There are several explanations behind this development, for example, diminishing normal size of operational belongings, farming getting to be infeasible, expanding agricultural wages, widespread selling of rural land and move of employment from the agricultural to non-agricultural segment. The time of 2001– 11 additionally seen three drought years. Cultivators are diminishing and such decrease in agriculture is supplanted by increment in agricultural laborers. There has been an unequivocal minimization of agrarian enthusiasm for the national approach and changes are positively required. This article attempts to think about the example of cultivator‘s growth and agricultural laborers for the states having populace of in excess of 25 million according to Census 2011. There is a peripheral increment in the quantity of household industry workers yet high increment in the quantity of different workers (Suresh & Nirmala, 2009).

1.1 Importance of agricultural Labor

Agricultural laborers comprise a vital segment of flimsier segments of rural areas. Agricultural labor is given for almost all the part by economically and socially in reverse segments. Consequently, the issues of agricultural labor accept urgent significance with regards to rural economic development going for betterment of rural poor agricultural laborers are numerically more than some other classification of labor in India, all the more especially so in the rural part. The agricultural tasks are by and large of a seasonal sort and everything considered demand for

areas, where cultivation is basically reliant on downpours, employment of landless agricultural labor is limited just to a brief period and whatever remains of the period, the greater part of them stays unemployed. Their position is better in flooded tracts when contrasted with that in the dry areas. In perspective on these distinctive variables, the bartering intensity of the agricultural laborers is frail and henceforth the wage level stays low in specific areas with inexhaustible supply of labor and without profitable employment during the time agricultural labor is observed to be transitory, moving looking for productive employment. Be that as it may, issues of this nature are not regularly found on account of industrial labor (Amin, et. al., 2009).

II. FEMALE AGRICULTURAL LABOR

Female populace comprises almost 51% of the all-out rural populace. The span of female populace demonstrates the potential quality of women in the all-out human assets in the economy. Consequently, women assume an essential job in the rural economy of India. Women have been assuming an essential job in the development procedure since the beginning times of civilized life. Historians trust that it was women who initially begun cultivation of yield plants and started the craftsmanship and investigation of farming. It is said that women who was found flame, yet in addition the utilization of flame, the fundamental cooking techniques like backing, boiling, steaming, roasting, and so forth, it is additionally said that woman is the principal potter and weaver. There is a boundless view among the scholars that the most ideal approach to pass judgment on a countries advance is to discover the status of women living there. A generous extent of the rural workers is self-employed or fills in as unpaid family laborers and is under employed (Damisa and Yohana, 2007). Females give a vast piece of the unpaid family labor in agriculture and the extent of kids and women in the labor constrain will in general be higher than in different divisions. The un-substitutable capacity of bearing tyke must be performed by women alone. They bear the real duty of kid care and instructing the youngster in all regards at newborn child stage. In their hands, the weight of wellbeing and prosperity of present, past and future ages' of the labor constrain. A dominant part of female workers in rural areas are involved in establishing an immense human asset and agriculture. The farm tasks of women incorporate application of manure, sowing, planting, irrigating field, fertilizer application, plant protection, weeding, thinning, harvesting, husking, winnowing, cleaning, putting away grains, sustaining the cattle, dealing with domesticated animals, especially dairy cattle, caring for poultry, kitchen cultivating, marketing of vegetables, and so forth., management of household routine issues, and so forth., The nature of capacities

which are embraced by men labor alone and certain others by women labor only. 2.1 Unemployment and Poverty

As indicated by different rounds of National Sample Survey, unquestionably the quantity of rural poor people expanded from 232 million of every 1988-89 to 245 million of every 1994-95 and then declined to 193 million out of 1999-2000. As it is still about 27% of rural individuals are accounted for to be underneath poverty line. In a few states including Orissa (48.0%), Bihar (44.3%), and North Eastern states, the occurrence of rural poverty is higher than the national average (Economic Survey from 2001-2002). The NSS information (NSSO. fiftyth round) further uncovers that among landless agricultural laborers, the occurrence of poverty is as high as 71.8% in Western area of Assam, 83% in Jharkhand (previous south Bihar), 78% in Northern Bihar, 71.9% in Central Bihar, 67% in Eastern Haryana, 64.2% in Chhattisgarh, 89.6% in South Western Madhya Pradesh, 72 to 76% in different areas of Maharashtra (other than beach front and inland Western Maharashtra), 61.9% to 83.9% in various districts of Orissa, 73.5% in Southern Rajasthan, 65.8% in Northern waterfront locale, 73.4% to 89.8% in Central, Eastern and Southern Uttar Pradesh, 85.7% in Himalayan area of West Bengal, and 68.8% in Eastern piece of West Bengal (Chopra, 2015).

Table 1: Problems women faced as agricultural laborers

Figure 1: Mean Score of Problems women faced as agricultural laborers

III. WOMEN AS A SOURCE FOR AGRICULTURE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Agriculture establishes through human labor, an essential field of economic movement and a crucial field of production. The universe of agriculture, which gives society the merchandise it requirements for its every day sustenance, is of fundamental significance. With economic growth, the structure of work in the economy is required to move moderately far from agriculture and towards industry and administrations. The expository investigation of diverse sources has not shown any such move until as of late. Agriculture is as yet the dominating movement in rural areas and women have stayed in all respects considerably in agriculture, to be sure their reliance on agriculture has expanded and gender hole is developing. Women's investment in the labor market is dictated by her family circumstance, training, growth in job openings and the general dimension of economic movement (Gopalan, 2017). Female work cooperation in agriculture depends a force and relative growth of agriculture. The rate of women agricultural labor gives off an impression of being associated with variables basic territorial impoverishment. The Alternative Theory places more noteworthy accentuation on economic weights that require women's acquiring money incomes through work outside the home. By and large, in poor families, women need to take part in wage labor paying little mind to tyke care and residential work. It seems, by all accounts, to be the women from poor areas who seem to prevail territorially as agricultural laborers. Both economic and socio-cultural components decide female support in rural agriculture division. In developing economies, the dominant parts of the women are basically included in agriculture and related interests. The Indian censuses arrange those engaged in agriculture into two expansive divisions-cultivators and agricultural laborers. When all is said in done, the labor class particularly women possesses a lower and defenseless status in agrarian chain of importance than cultivators. The expanding decrease in their status from self-maker to wage worker. There has been an extension in the cooperation rate of female labor in agriculture. Rural women assume a critical job in all stages of yield production from land arrangement through harvesting and post-harvesting process (Jahan and Khan, 2016). Women in many agricultural nations, structure a .natural segment of the work drive. They work alongside the male individuals in agricultural exercises on farms. As a laborer, their exercises can be comprehensively partitioned into two classes: Income delivering and Income supplementing.

IV. WOMEN CONTRIBUTION IN AGRICULTURAL SECTOR: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

In a globalizing world, gender uniformity and commitment of women assume a job to accomplish economic and manageable development of the societies. As far as giving employment and economy‘s growth, the agricultural part is the most vital division in the developing nations. In Asian nations, women's involvement in the agriculture area ranges from 60 to 80 %. Women contribute altogether in the entire area of the economy, representing very nearly 66% of the labor compel in Asian developing nations. Rural women involve more than one fourth of the complete total populace and they are an essential and crucial power in the development procedure. Women perform 30 % of agricultural work in industrialized nations. Females help in creating 81% of fundamental household food in Africa, 60 percent food in Asia and take part 51 % of the labor engaged with rice cultivation. Women claim just 2 % of land, get just 1 % of credit and can profit just 5 % of all agricultural augmentation assets. The estimation of women's unpaid housework and commodity work was seen between 10-35 % of GDP around the world, adding up to $ 11 trillion (NIPCCD, 2010). Among the developing nations, the status of women is amazingly expected to reestablish the leaving needs through research and expansion administrations. The vast majority of the exploration and augmentation framework are male arranged and goal of these projects are to accomplish certain objectives yet don't examine the genuine needs of farm women. Internationally the extent of agricultural workers has declined; be that as it may, the extent of economically dynamic women working in the agricultural segment stays at nearly 50 %. Yet, women are related with agriculture are confronting the issue of poverty and misuse which influences the all-out productivity of the agricultural area. However women everywhere throughout the world keep on striving to have any kind of effect – to modify their lives and the lives for other people. Women as a power of development can change the state of economy (Prasad, 2007).

In India, livestock assume a multi-confronted job in giving draft capacity to the farm, manure for crops, and energy for preparing and food for household utilization just as for the market. Women represented 93 percent of all out employment in dairy production. In livestock management women assume a noteworthy job however their job varies between small, medium and substantial farms (Mulugeta and Amsalu, 2014). Animal husbandry is predominately a male undertaking if there should arise an occurrence of high, economic status as larger part of them utilize, permanent male labor to care for the animals, where it is predominately a female issues in the event of farmers of medium and low financial status. On an average, a woman dedicates 3.5 hours out of every day for animal husbandry exercises against just 1.6 hours out of each day committed by men in this class. Their movement fluctuate broadly extending from consideration of animals, bringing, teasing and touching fodder to animals, getting ready feed for animals, medicinal services of animals, cleaning of shed and milking and planning milk item. In livestock management, indoor job like milking, bolstering, cleaning and so on are finished by women in 90 % of the household while management of male animals and fodder production are affected by male. Women accounted 93 % of the absolute employment in milk production rely on the economic status; Women play out the assignment of gathering of fodder, gathering and preparing dunk. In spite of the fact that women assume a noteworthy job in livestock management and milk production however her economic commitment is unimportant and overlooked by the strategy creators in agricultural area. Women in rural area are completely relying upon the men or more established women of the family; these more seasoned women are for the most part their mom in laws. They are not ready to take decision freely and get delight from the day by day errand of housework and family chip away at the farm. Women attempt livestock handling or milking however the clearance of the animal or meat is the privilege of men. The framework still does not permit rural women access to any money or wages. They are as yet paid in kind not in real money, particularly in the cotton belt areas.

VI. MULTI-DIMENSIONAL OF WOMEN‟S PARTICIPATION IN AN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY

The exceptional highlights of the female support all through India is that they are workers, laborers, cultivators, makers close to playing out all household exercises which are considered as useless. In cultivation aside from stopping, leveling, irrigation, all works are commonly shared by the two men and women. Women are associated with most burdensome work in agricultural division under various atmosphere in various locales on the least labor they embrace. Right off the bat, the beneficial job of women alludes to market production and home subsistence production embraced by women which creates income. Besides, the regenerative job of women in economy alludes to the childbearing and kid raising duties borne by women which are basic to the reproduction of the workforce (Zend, et. al., 2018). Ultimately, the network management job alludes to exercises embraced by women to guarantee the arrangement of assets at the network level, as an expansion of their conceptive job in agricultural area. Women hold a critical position of particular attributes in the family and society. No general public can grow completely without a noteworthy commitment of women towards its development. To add to economic development, women must engage themselves in what is called 'economic or 'productive movement. For a full combination of women in economic development, women must enter the labor constrain on equivalent balance with men.

VII. CONCLUSION

In Indian culture, women have a multi-dimensional job. The biggest number of women in India is engaged in farming activities either as cultivators or as directors or as agriculture laborers. Women contribute about ¾th of the labor required for agricultural tasks. Their association in farming undertakings is other than their typical household work. Most by far of the commitments made by women to the farm division likewise go unaccounted as they are not specifically paid. In this manner, rural women are the significant donors in agriculture and united fields. Her work incorporates all exercises in various fields for example crop production, livestock production, household, family support, transporting water, fuel and fodder. In spite of such an immense involvement, her job and nobility has yet not been perceived. Women status is low by all social, economic and political markers.

REFERENCES

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Corresponding Author Gaurav Saini*

Ph.D. Scholar of Panjab University, Chandigarh