Towards Women’s Domination in Agriculture
Ms. Munima SULTANA (Bangladesh)
Women’s involvement in agriculture is increasing day by day in Bangladesh. Experts
now consider the change as a silent revolution as women are now engaged in sowing,tilling, irrigating and husking—virtually all sorts of agricultural practices. This is
primarily due to the increase in men’s migration to urban cities and technologicalchanges.
A 2011 report indicates that, from 1999 to 2006, participation by men in theagricultural labor force declined by seven per cent, while female agricultural laborersincreased by 103 per cent to 7.7 million. The report notes that as men move from farming
to the service industry and other non-agricultural sectors, women are gaining more
acceptance as paid farm managers and post-harvest processors. In urban areas,
particularly in large towns, there is a predominance of the male population, indicating
substantial inflows of male migrants from rural areas to seek employment opportunities
in urban areas. Apart from that, high levels of international male out-migration havealso created space for females to head households in the rural areas.
Other studies find women’s involvement in farming is increasing as ploughs arebeing replaced by tractors. This trend can be attributed to mechanized methods offarming in the country where tilling lands, which earlier required hard physical labor, iseasily done by power tillers now. Agricultural mechanization is visible in irrigation, too.
Other types of farm work such as sowing and weeding are also done by women.
Even with their increased participation in the labor force, however, women continue
to bepaid less than men. Social norms and traditions are changing due to extreme

poverty and food shortage, leading women to work in the fields for survival. But thestudies point to the fact that about 60-70 per cent of women involved in agricultural
practices are wage workers from landless and near-landless households.
In light of this situation, experts suggest the government review its agricultural
policies so that women can get training on modern technology, education, and fair wages.
All these will be helpful to attain a greater participation rate of women in farming. Thegovernment should adopt strategies for gender equity to facilitate greater acceptance byfamilies and communities of women's participation in agriculture. The policy must focus
on promoting education for female farmers in modern agricultural technologies, women’sequal access to these tools and financial benefits. The strategies should focus on
increasing women's roles in rice production, ensuring food security at the household level
as well as assisting women in establishing entrepreneurial ventures.

Previously,

women

wereusuallyinvolved in agriculture during harvestingstages. But now Bangladeshi women
perform about 80 per cent of post-harvest
activities. Home gardening, which isbecoming increasingly popular, is alsodone almost exclusively by women. So,with the increased involvement of womenin all stages of agriculture, it is now
necessary to ensure that women have

Bangladeshi Women

access to fertilizer, cash assistance and other government subsidies for farmers. It has
been found that a significant number of women farmers in Bangladesh do not have accessto government subsidies because the land they work on is registered in their husbands'
names. Although close to half of all farmers in Bangladesh are women, the majority ofthem have not received their Agriculture Input Assistance Cards (AIAC), which farmers
are required to present for getting government subsidies such as diesel oil for irrigationequipment.
According to the ministry of agriculture, nearly 14 million AIAC cards have been
distributed since the system began in 2010. But the AIAC program is designed to granteligibility for obtaining the cards solely to land owners. There are millions of women who
have not received AIAC simply because their land is registered under the name of theirmale partners. Experts consider this a humiliation for the millions of women, as they arestrenuously working for food production in the country but are deprived of the right toreceive the government benefits. In order to acknowledge the women’s genuine
contribution to food production in the country, they suggest the government revise its
policy relating to AIAC as well. The ownership of land should not be the main criterion
for determining the eligibility for AIAC.
Under such circumstances, a silent revolution is taking place as the BangladeshBank (BB), the central bank of the country, has recognized the increased role of womenfarmers by directing all banks to provide loan to female farmers. The central bank datashows about 445,000 female farmers received Tk 12.45 billion in agricultural and rural
credits last year.