SumArth redefining ‘Sons of the soil’ to ‘Daughters of the soil’

According to the Economic Survey 2017-18, the agricultural industry employs more than 50 percent of the total workforce in India and contributes around 17-18 percent to the country’s GDP. Talking about women, India’s agricultural industry employs 80 to 100 million female farmers. From preparing the land, selecting seeds, transplanting the seedlings, applying manure/fertilisers/pesticides and then harvesting, winnowing and threshing, women work harder and longer than male farmers. Despite all their hard labour in the field, National Commission for Women’s data suggests that Bihar’s agricultural industry employs 85% of female but they are not officially treated as farmers, and are either labelled as “agricultural labourers” or “cultivators”. 

It is rare to hear narratives of women working in agriculture and its allied activities in Bihar. Be it farmers’ suicide or drought or flood or any government scheme, whole media is seen flooded with male farmers’ visuals only. But here I will tell you how SumArth , an agriculture-based NGO is dedicatedly working on feminisation of agriculture. It is a non-profit social enterprise headquartered in Gaya, Bihar which supports women farmers in their economic growth by providing 360-degree solution, from crop planning to ensured market linkage. SumArth works primarily in the Naxal- affected areas with Dalit and marginalised women farmers.

SumArth launched a project named “Magical Mushroom” whose main focus was giving a good livelihood and making the women farmers self-dependent with minimal investment. Mushroom can be grown in a closed area which is not exposed to sunlight. It is grown in off farm conditions under controlled environment. This project ensures daily income to farmers and provides a minimum of double return within 45 days. Also, Mushroom’s production is devoid of big land or space. It can be grown in homes too. Even many labourers are not required, single person can take care of the production process.

Keeping in mind women empowerment, SumArth launched this project for the betterment of Dalit and marginalised women farmers. As many of the farm equipment are not female friendly, hence possessing risk of injuries. This project came as a boon to women farmers. There is no usage of big farm machinery in growing mushroom. It is simply grown in mushroom bags which are kept inside house. This helps women taking care of it at their convenience.

The Co-founder of SumArth, Prabhat Kumar said, “In the Naxal affected and rural areas, primarily men do the agricultural activities at field as women are not allowed to go out but Mushroom can be grown inside house, therefore it benefits the women farmers to great extent.”

Women are considered as the “weaker gender” when compared to men and hence, they are paid lesser, despite working for the same time and under same circumstances. But the scenario completely changes here. Women are the sole stakeholder and the prime decision maker. This encourages women to work for themselves and feel confident.

Access to education, agricultural training and extension services for women has been predominantly low as compared to men. But SumArth has trained and educated more than 500 women farmers for this project to inculcate confidence to face the community and its requirements. Small and marginal women farmers in India lack adequate access to marketing facilities due to lack of basic infrastructure like market yards, roads and transportation, and storage including freezers. Further, women farmers have no representation in agricultural marketing committees and other similar bodies. Thus, SumArth provides the women farmers with local market to sell their product and earn from it. On an average a woman farmer earns 10-12k with a small investment of 4-5k. They earn this amount in just 30-45 days in one go. And this process continues for at least four consecutive months.

Since ages, women are considered not to be tech-friendly and have not been encouraged to use technology. But SumArth introduced their women farmers to agricultural technologies which reduced the gender gap in agricultural productivity and food security. In this project women farmers were taught to use laser equipment to detect the room temperature and automatic sprinkler for watering the mushroom bags. These technologies eased the women farmers’ work along with gave them an opportunity to explore new technology.

Women’s economic empowerment could reduce poverty for everyone and this could only be achieved by fixing the current broken economic model which undermines gender equality and causes extreme economic inequality. The fundamental drivers of sustainable development and economic growth are the people themselves but if only one gender is encouraged to participate in any activity, the talent pool simply gets halved. So, this is the condition in agriculture as women are not being encouraged to do agricultural activities but SumArth is encouraging number of women farmers by providing them with all needed things. Team SumArth says, “Given equal access to productive resources and services, women are just as efficient as men and would achieve the same yields. Reducing the gender gap is very essential in order to accelerate the growth in the agriculture sector. According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation, if women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20-30%. 

In order to make India a progressive country, it is essential to work on rural India - where agriculture forms the backbone. We cannot afford to ignore the fact that if we want second Green Revolution in India, it is essential for us to focus on our country's women farmers. In my opinion, everything starts and ends with agriculture as it is impossible to survive without food. Therefore, women need to be given lots of opportunity as men.