"I am the first woman farmer in my block who started cultivation 15 years back," said 45 years old Aisha Begum Khatoon of Hridaypur village in Ambedkarnagar district. When she picked up the hoe for the first time, all the villagers rebuked her for treading on a man's domain. However, she decided to move forward, despite all odds, in order to look after her three daughters and one son.
Her husband lives in the city and takes no interest in agricultural activities. She owns a mere half acre land, but by resorting to organic farming, she is able to provide bread and better to her family of five members. She is now able to produce more than 20 varieties of crops, thanks to organic farming, and has become a role model for other women farmers of her area. Aisha Begum is grateful to the Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG), for teaching her multi-layer cropping patterns, as well as time and space management.
Organic farming has provided her with a sustainable and economically viable model of agriculture production. She is also involved with Ekta Self Help Group and is the President of NARI Manch (this forum provides agriculture related information to women farmers). She has also been successful in creating more than 250 self help groups. Now her husband and her other family members take pride in her work. The Uttar Pradesh state agriculture Minister, Mr Chaudhari Laxmi Narayan, awarded her recently, during the Kisaan Sansad (Farmers' Parliament), in recognition of her excellent work in agriculture production.
Women farmers, despite being one of the biggest labor forces in India, are still fighting for their rights and identity. In India more than 84 per cent of women are involved in agricultural and/or allied activities. The agricultural sector provides employment to nearly 4/5 of the total women work force in India. One third of the agricultural laborers are women and 48 per cent of the women farmers are considered self employed in the agriculture sector.
According to a study conducted by GEAG, in Uttar Pradesh, 70 per cent of the state's population is involved in agricultural activities, making it a food surplus state. Women family members of about 80% of small and marginal farmers are involved in agricultural activities.Yet land holding rights of women farmers are a mere 6.5 per cent out of which a majority of them (81 per cent) got their land after the death of their husband, while only 19 per cent got it from their mother's side.
Neelam Prabhat, State Coordinator, Aaroh Abhiyaan, (a campaign for the empowerment of women farmers and their rights) working in GEAG, Uttar Pradesh said, "despite the tremendous contribution of women farmers in agricultural sector ,they have always been marginalized and denied their rights, not only by their family and society ,but by the policy makers as well. In general, they are treated as the assistants of male farmers."
She further said, " According to a recent report published by The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 40 million people have been pushed into hunger this year mostly due to soaring food prices, and the number of undernourished people worldwide is approaching the 1-billion mark. We can reduce this number if we empower women farmers and give them land holdings rights and joint bank accounts with their husbands."
The total number of hungry people has risen to 963 million this year, up from 923 million last year. FAO has cautioned, in the latest edition of its global hunger report, that this number could rise further as a result of the ongoing financial and economic crisis. In view of this we should strengthen production in a comprehensive way and should give the rights, long over due, to women farmers. In this way they will become an asset, not only to their families but also to society and the entire country.
PermalinkSubmitted by rakib ahmad on Sun, 28/03/2010 - 15:14
Thanks Amit, for the inspiring story of a marginalised woman farmer in UP. I am working at grassroots level in Assam. Separation of land patta in favour of daughters sh be completed by fathers in their lifetime. 2ndly' Issuing landholding certificates by circle officers/ tehsildars in favour of woman sh be legally made mandatory, within say, 100 days of application. Due to lack of land papers, woman farmers find it difficult to form acceptable groups for subsidy.
Popular music artist and keyboard player Nupur Bordoloi died on Saturday. He was 37 and he was suffering from blood cancer for the last couple of years. He is survived by his wife Pori Gogoi and his daughter. The end came at 5-45 in the morning on Saturday while he was undergoing treatment at a city nurshing home. But within this period, he attained commanding popularity. Several artists have condoled his untimely and premature death.
The explosion of seven digital meters at a city apartment created panic among its residents in the city’s Beltola area on Saturday. It all took place at around 11 in the morning at the Ranibagan Apartment Housing Society’s Tarokeswar Block No 6. Initially a boy saw some sparks at a digital meter and told his father. His father Lokesh Agarwala came down with a fire extinguishing cylinder. But he saw the fire dispersed to six other meters. Some other residents also arrived with fire extinguishers and later on the fire was extinguished. On the other hand, after information the ASEB officials reached thr apartment only an hour later. But they said blamed it all on the flawed wiring...
Assam also join the country’s holi festival with a splash of colour across the state from Friday. Forgetting political and religious affiliation, the people of all section are playing holi with their gulal smeared faces. Barpeta continues to hog the limelight where thousands of people attend the four day long festival. From early in the morning people in large number came out to the streets with gulals to make it really a festival of colour. The celebration at the Dol Govinda temple in north Guwahati is pulling up huge crowd on both Friday and Saturday with people from far flung areas. Holi songs, cultural function were organized in different parts of the state to celebrate the...
Assam Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Ajai Singh along with children celebrating Holi, the festival of colour, at Raj Bhawan, Guwahati on March 21, 2008. Photo by Pitamber Newar.
A Dhubri ULFA cadre was killed in Golukganj area while police and Amy jawans were launching a joint operation nea the Rupsi Aiport early in the morning on Friday. According to information, the incident took place at around 3 early in the morning. The youth maer identified as Manindra Ray was coming on a bicycle near the Rupsi Airport under Golukganji police station. The police asked him to stop while he was tying the leave the spot. Manindra instead dropped a grenade at them and started firing. When the police and army jawans retaliated Manindra died on the spot. Later police recovered a revolver three rounds of bullets, a mobile handset and diary have been recovered from his possession.
AASU activists in the city staged a two hour long hunger strike on Thursday demanding exemplary punishment for those involved in the recent blast in Dhemaji where four people killed and as many as sixty others injured. They gathered at the Latasil Field in the city and staged a two hour long hunger strike. They demanded exemplary action for those mired in the recent grenade blast in Jonai. Notably, four people have been killed and as many as 85 others injured when a powerful grenade exploded at a Mishing cultural function in Jonai on March 15 evening.They alleged that the government has been failing to provide the people safety and security to the people in general and that the culprits...
Assam health and family welfare minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has threatened to arrest noted cardiac surgeon and genetic engineer Dr Dhaniram Baruah if the later proceeds further with the vaccine prepared by him. But Dr Baruah has made it plain and simple that he is not ready to halt even an iota saying he has not violated the laid down rules and regulated.It’s a strong message to Dr Dhaniram Baruah from Assam health and family welfare minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Addressing a press conference in Dispur on Thursday, the minister has warned Dr Baruah of dire consequences if he fails to desist from applying his vaccine on human body. According to Sarma, the doctor could be arrested...
The Gauhati High Court has ordered suspension three top ranked police officers for probing into the teacher recruitment scam with out arresting two kingpins involved in it.According to information, a division bench comprising Chief Justice S Salameswar and Justice Amitabh Roy in the order asked the authorities to suspend the then Nalbari police policed superintendent Dilip Kumar Dey, officer in charge of Nalbari police station K C Phukan and assistant sub inspector Sujit Saikia. The court further has asked the Assam Government to file a report on nest Wednesday.
Over the years, there has been a sharp rise in the rhino poachings in the Kaziranga National Park were the north east militants are actively involved.Disclosing this in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, minister of state for environment S Regupathy in a written reply said as many as 18 rhinos were killed in the sanctuary in 2007.The figure was seven in 2005 and it fell to five in 2006. But it started increasing on 2007 and rose to 18. The Union minister further said the north eastern militants are also in the rhino poaching in the park.
Comments
Pages
Add new comment