How women farmers anchor India’s greying agriculture 

Women into development narratives

Until the 1970s, the mainstream view was to understand the peasant family farms as male-headed households, with men seen as primary farmers and women and children assisting them. 

This mainstream perspective was challenged by Danish economist Ester Boserup’s book Woman’s Role in Economic Development (1970), which demonstrated that peasant men are not always the primary farmers. The text became foundational for the UN Decade for Women (1976-1985) and the Women in Development approach, as it brought about a shift in global policy towards integrating women into development narratives.

One important contribution of the new approaches to development was to reflect that family-based farming is characterised by a gender-based division of labour, which varies across cultures and regions. Two ideas became important – the existence of the woman farmer as well as the existence of female-headed households. 

Greying of agriculture 

According to the data by the UN, women globally make up close to 40 per cent of the total agricultural labour force. In India, women comprise around 80 per cent of the economically active workers in agriculture, and their share in the agricultural workforce has increased from 57 per cent in 2017-18 to 64.4 per cent in 2023-24. During the same time period, men’s participation in agriculture has declined from 40.2 per cent to 36.3 per cent. This data underlines at least two important issues: men are moving away from agriculture, and women in rural India are mostly unpaid family workers. 

Economists have discussed this shift in relation to a phenomenon called “greying of agriculture” in rural India – suggesting that while farmers are getting older, the youth are largely moving away from farming. The trend is also noted across the rest of the developing world. Evidence from countries like Thailand and Vietnam shows that young and educated men are moving away from agriculture to rural non-farm work or migrating to urban areas. For women, however, there are not enough non-farm opportunities.  

This brings us to the second issue: women in rural India are mostly unpaid family workers. Data reveals that 87 per cent of unpaid women workers in household enterprises in rural India are engaged in agriculture and allied activities. Female labour force participation has increased in recent years, but this has largely been attributed to the growth in self-employment, which in rural India mostly comprises agriculture.

According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), self-employment includes own-account workers, employers, and unpaid helpers. For women, the rise in self-employment has happened mainly through an increase in the number of unpaid helpers in family enterprises or farms. The unpaid helpers are more likely to remain invisible in data collection as well as in policies.     

Women’s invisibility and access to resources 

Scholars on gender and development have talked about the historical existence of female-headed households in rural areas, often associated with capitalist development, proletarianisation, and male migration. In India, female-headed households can emerge because of two factors – first, a rise in de jure female-headed households because of the absence of the male head due to widowhood, separation, divorce, or disability; second, a rise in de facto households as a result of migration of male members. 

Across rural India, men are usually engaged in circular or seasonal migration, looking for opportunities outside agriculture. Migration is also driven by factors: 

1. Slowdown in agricultural production and productivity.

2. Increasing input costs.

3. Higher climate-related risks to crops.

4. Lack of employment opportunities.

5. Growing aspiration of educated youth in rural areas. 

Such trends are visible across the Global South, where farms are getting smaller and increasing in numbers due to land fragmentation. The fragmentation of land implies that cultivation alone is often not enough to sustain the family. In such cases, women usually become the sole farmers of the land. Thus, greying of agriculture and feminisation of agriculture go hand in hand. 

Research has also indicated that women farmers are more likely to use new farm activities and engage in new forms of crop diversification. Women in rural India also form the backbone of livestock rearing, performing over 70 per cent of the work in dairy and animal husbandry. Similar to their role in agriculture, women in livestock rearing remain invisible and undercounted. The invisibility and undercounting of women in agriculture and animal husbandry have a significant impact on their ownership of and access to assets and resources. 

For instance, rural women own only 15 per cent of all agricultural land, according to the data by the UN. While feminist interventions in data collection have encouraged the collection of sex-disaggregated data in areas like ownership of land, there are still several challenges. In many cases, data on land ownership fail to distinguish between joint ownership and single ownership. For most women, assets and resources are jointly owned with male household members, typically husbands, obscuring women’s effective control and decision-making power over land.

Towards ensuring women’s agency in agriculture

Any discussion on women farmers is also incomplete without understanding their vulnerabilities to climate change. Reports indicate that climate change disproportionately impacts women, with female-headed households losing close to 37 billion dollars a year due to heat stress and 16 billion dollars because of floods. 

In this regard, technological interventions can benefit women farmers. Paddy cultivation is a case in point. Research highlights that women paddy cultivators often face health risks – including skin issues, dehydration, allergies, water-borne diseases – and several physically challenging activities. However, the adoption of technologies, like direct-seeded rice (DSR) – where seeds are sown directly in the field instead of transplanting seedlings raised in nurseries – helps reduce women’s labour burden. DSR also reduces the use of water and greenhouse gas. Paddy cultivation accounts for around 48 per cent of greenhouse emissions.  

While the impact of mechanisation and technology on women’s labour has been widely debated, evidence suggests that when designed and implemented appropriately, technology can help women farmers overcome multiple structural constraints. The UN estimates that if women had the same access to productive resources as men, farm yields could increase by 20–30 per cent, potentially feeding an additional 100 to 150 million people worldwide. 

Thus, alongside improving data visibility and the collection of sex-disaggregated data, investments in care infrastructures, secure land rights, access to credit, and gender-responsive technologies are equally important in ensuring women’s agency in agriculture.

Post read questions

Discuss the phenomenon of ‘greying of agriculture’ and ‘feminisation of agriculture’. Explain their causes and implications for women farmers.

How do the invisibility and undercounting of women in agriculture and animal husbandry affect their ownership of and access to assets and resources?

Analyse the impact of climate change on women farmers in India. How can technology and innovation reduce their vulnerability? Explain with example.

Discuss the role of Self-Help Groups and institutions such as DAY-NRLM in promoting women’s economic empowerment in rural India.

In the context of the UN declaring 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer, discuss the relevance of this initiative for India’s agricultural policy.

(Ritwika Patgiri is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Economics, South Asian University.)

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