KVK Journal Special Issue on women empowerment

Dear Colleagues,

I am deeply honoured to be the secretary ofthe Society of Krishi Vigyan (SKV).With a deepsense of gratitude, I express my heartfelt thanksto all members for reposing faith in my capabilitiesas the secretary of this society, since its inceptionin June 2011 to till date. I am extremely thankfulto the editorial board members and peer reviewersfor their constant encouragement and helpextended to me in progress of Journal of KrishiVigyan.

There is no tool for development moreeffective than empowerment of women. Thenumber of female scientists is steadily increasingbut the big picture reflects that there number isstill meagre. A study by Indian National ScienceAcademy in 2004, revealed that percentage ofwomen professors, associate professors andassistant professors in ICAR was 3.5, 6.2 and 10.4% respectively. The under-representation ofwomen in science, particularly at the senior levelsof teaching and research in India, has become aserious cause of concern for women scientists andwomen policy planners. Hence there is a need tomake women aware of a career in agriculturescience as a possible option of career and then toretain them in the profession. With that, I applaudall the women scientists in the field of agricultureand encourage them to create a niche forthemselves. I dedicate this special issue to womenempowerment.

The first issue of Journal of Krishi Vigyan,official journal of the Society of Krishi Vigyanwas released in July, 2012. As a founder memberand secretary of the society, I have witnessed theSociety’s steady growth, thanks to the efforts ofall its highly enthusiastic members. Presently, 200scientists from different fields of agriculture fromacross the country have been enrolled as lifemembers with the society but we would like toincrease our membership and would be keen onsuggestions from all of you.

So, why should you be a SKV member andpublish in Journal of Krishi Vigyan? Writing,editing and publishing are the heart and soul ofresearch. For the benefit of society at large,information from a study should be made available

to it and be accessible by iteasily. Dissemination ofresearch work is imperativefor it to become knowledge.With this view in mind, theeditorial board has designedJournal of Krishi Vigyan. TheJournal of Krishi Vigyan isthe only multi disciplinary journal started mainlywith the sole objective to spread knowledge andupdate the members with the latest technology thatis available and can be transferred among thefarming community by adopting differenttechniques. We encourage our young scientistsworking in research, teaching or extensionschemes in the state agricultural universities,ICAR institutes or in NGO institutes to contributeand share their experiences.

If that’s not enough consider some morereasons why you should publish with us viz. wewill provide you results fast. Initial decisions aremade in a few days, post-review decisions in abouta month, and most articles go through only oneround of revision. Our review process is pain free.The scientist editors who work for Journal ofKrishi Vigyan will give you feedback that’sconstructive and fair. If invited to revise your work,you’ll receive a single consolidated list ofcomments, so that you know exactly what youneed to do to get your work published. Ourpublication is wide reach. Journal of Krishi Vigyanarticles are immediately and freely available tothe world through indianjournals.com.

We, at Society are consistently working tointegrate phenomenal opportunities offered by thedigital technologies of today and tomorrow in ourpublications. Three years of our publishingactivities are only the beginning of a great journey:please join us in making Journal of Krishi Vigyan,a journal that is truly conceived to serve agriculturescience and scientists at its very best. Yourmembership and interest in our Society is whatmakes of Krishi Vigyan such a strong and vibrantorganization.

So, thank you once again for your continuedsupport, and please don’t hesitate to let me knowwhat you think will make us even better.

(MANOJ SHARMA)

Secretary’s Message

CONTENTSSr. No. Title Page No.

1. Awareness Regarding Women Empowerment Programmes in Rural Households ofLudhiana.Jatinder Kaur Gill, Surinderjeet Kaur and Ritu Gupta

2. Bee Keeping Enterprise Among Rural Men and Women in Moga District.Gagan Jyot Kaur and Jagbir Rehal

3. Consumption Pattern of Green Leafy Vegetables by Rural Women in DistrictThiruvananthapuram.J R Krishnendu and B Prasannakumari

4. Cultivation of Pusa Narangi Variety of Marigold for Crop Diversification andEmpowering Farm Women in Malwa Plateau of Madhya Pradesh.Rekha Tiwari, D S Tomar, A K Dixit and A K Saxena

5. Empowering Tribal Women Through Backyard Poultry in Bastar District ofChhattisgarh.A K Chaturvedani, Niranjan Lal, Khalid, N K Khyalia and Jitendra Pratap

6. Empowerment of Self Help Group Members of Virudhunagar District ThroughVocational Trainings on Mushroom Production.S Muthuramu, V K Paulpandi, S Sakthivel, K Ramakrishnan and R Karthik.

7. Empowerment of Women Through Jasmine (Jasminum sambac) Cultivation.Sharmila Bharathi C, B Mohan, S Alagudurai, R Sangeetha, G Gohila andK Paneerselvam

8. Ensuring Better Natural Resource Management Through Gender Mainstreaming.Amarinder Kaur

9. Farm Women Empowerment Through Commodity Group Approach.Noorjehan A K Hanif and V Krishnamoorthi

10. Farmers Driven Value Chain of Kadali Banana: A Gadget For WomenEmpowerment.R Sendilkumar

11. Feminization of Agriculture: Reflections from the Female Participation in TrainingProgrammes on Agriculture and Allied Activities.Manisha Bhatia and Jugraj Singh Marok

12. Impact Assessment of Skill Development Programme For Rural Women in DistrictLudhiana.Prerna Kapila

1

4

9

14

19

23

27

32

40

44

50

55

Sr. No. Title Page No.

13. Impact of Trainings of Fruits and Vegetable Preservation on the Knowledge andAttitude of Rural Women.Kanta Sabharwal and R D Panwar

14. Knowledge and Adoption Status of Training on Value Addition.R G Manjarekar, P M Mandavkar and M S Talathi

15. Nutritional Evaluation of Quince Fruit and its Products.Sangita Sood and Mrinalini Bhardwaj

16. On Farm Testing on Assessment of Different Type of Weeders in Direct SeededRice. Mouneshwari R Kammar and Pramod Katti

17. Pull and Push Factors for Women Entrepreneurship in Thrissur District ofKerala.K A Sunandha

18. Revival of Kasuti Embroidery Motifs in Knitted Kurties Through ComputerAided Designs.K Kaur and D Kaur

19. Role of Women Fish Workers for Food Security in Assam.Deepjyoti Barua

20. Social and Economical Empowerment of Rural Women Through Self Help GroupFormation in Jaipur District of Rajasthan.Smita Bhatnagar and S S Rathore

21. Social Approbation Towards Women Empowerment: A Glimpse.Gulzar S Sanghera, Lenika Kashyap, Gagandeep Kaur and Manoj Sharma

22. Status of Women Empowerment in Assam.Paramita Medhi

23. Use of Improved Sickle for Drudgery Reduction in Farmwomen of Gir-SomnathDistrict of Gujarat.Hansa S patel , A O Kher and Minakshi K Bariya

24. Women Empowerment as a Component of Social Responsibility in ParticipatoryVarietal Selection.Parvaze A Sofi

25. Women in Sugarcane Farming: Challenges and Opportunities.Gulzar S Sanghera and Manoj Sharma

59

62

67

70

75

84

89

94

97

105

109

113

119

1

Corresponding Author’s Email: [email protected]

DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00025.2

J Krishi Vigyan 2015, 3(Special Issue) : 1-3

Awareness Regarding Women EmpowermentProgrammes in Rural Households of Ludhiana

Jatinder Kaur Gill, Surinderjeet Kaur and Ritu GuptaDepartment of Family Resource Management

College of Home SciencePunjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141 004 (Punjab)

ABSTRACTThe government of India declared year 2001 as women empowerment year and launchedmany useful programmes for awakening women. The present study was an attempt to knowutilization of these programmes by rural home-makers. The study was conducted in 60 ruralhouseholds of two villages selected from two blocks of Ludhiana district. The results revealedthat few respondents (18.3 %) were aware of the year of women empowerment as well asvarious empowerment programmes. Only 11.7 and 16.7 per cent were found having anawareness of Kishori Shakti Yojna and Sampooran Shiksha programmes, respectively. However,30 per cent women started using women friendly technologies in their households for drudgeryreduction and hence improving their quality of life. Further, none of the respondents was makinguse of credit facilities for starting their own enterprise to supplement family income as theywere completely ignorant about various schemes. Schemes like Widow Pension Scheme,Maternity Benefits and Girl Child Benefits were fully utilized as these provide direct economicgains. Respondents strongly agreed that these programmes will make women aware of theirrights but disagreed that these programmes will help to develop ability to make better decisions.They had no particular opinion whether these programmes will enable women to act as selfsufficient. The suggestions from the respondents for the effective utilization of various schemesincluded expert guidance for starting any enterprise (96.7%) followed by training programmefor elderly for changing their attitude towards women workforce participation (93.3%),programme for skill development (83.3%) and awareness generation programmes for creditfacilities by government and non government organizations (86.7%).

Key Words: Awareness, Women empowerment. Rural households, Development programmes.

INTRODUCTIONThe process of women empowerment is

multidimensional. It enables women to realizetheir full potential, empowers them in all spheresof life. Women’s empowerment, in fact, beginswith the awareness about their rights andcapabilities. Women play a pivotal role for theoverall development of the family but still defiedequal status. In order to equal opportunities,improve their overall status, to remove variousgender biases, the government of India haddeclared year 2001 as women empowerment yearand has launched many useful programmes forawakening women, who in turn can think ofraising standard of living of their families.

Government has chalked out impressiveprogrammes and enacted many laws to empowerwomen but how far these were effective and beingimplemented could only decide the success ofsuch programmes. Keeping all this in view, presentstudy was intended with the objective to knowthe utilization of women empowermentprogrammes by rural home-makers, to know theopinion regarding various empowermentprogrammes for women and make suggestionsfor effective implementation of these programmes.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe study was conducted in two blocks of

Ludhiana district. One village from each block

2

was selected with the help of CDPO (ChildDelopment Project Officer) of concerned block.Thirty women respondents of age group 20-50 yrwere randomly selected from each village, thusmaking a sample of 60 respondents. The data werecollected through structured interview scheduleand presented with the help of simple percentage.Scoring technique was used to express opinionsof home-makers. It was done by giving 3, 2, and1 score to agree, neutral and disagree responses,respectively. The mean scores were calculated toexpress the findings.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONIt was evident from the data (Table 1) that in

rural areas, few home-makers (18.3%) were awareof declaration of year 2001 as womenempowerment year. The data further revealed thatonly (16.7%) home- makers were aware of rightsof women and Sampooran Shiksha Programme.There were only (11.7%) home-makers who wereaware of Kishori Shakti Yojana, which aimed atempowering the teen-aged girls. As regards the

women friendly technologies, 30 per cent womenstarted using the same in their homes for drudgeryreduction and hence improving the quality of life.It was observed that none of the respondents wadmaking use of credit facilities for starting their ownenterprise to supplement family income as theywere totally ignorant about these schemes.Interestingly schemes like Widow PensionScheme, Maternity benefits and Girl Child benefitswere fully utilized by the women as these providedirect economic gains to them.

Scores of opinion of respondents towards thewomen empowerment programme were given intable 2. The results revealed that the respondentsstrongly agreed to the statements that theseprogrammes make women aware of their rights(2.63), will help them in fighting againstdiscrimination (2.55) and also help in improvinghealth of family members (2.33). whereas, theydisagree with the statements that these programmeswill help to develop ability to make better decisionsand will provide equality of rights between women

Table 1. Distribution of respondents according to awareness and use of women empowerment programmes.(N=60)

Programme ResponseKnowledge regarding Yes No

a) Declaration of year 2001 as Women Empowerment Year. 11 (18.3) 49 (81.7)

b) Importance of year 2001, rights of women 10 (16.7) 50 (83.3)

c) Kishori Shakti Yojana 7 (11.7) 53 (88.3)

d) Credit facilities for starting an enterprise. 0 (0.00) 60 (100.0)

e) Women friendly technology for drudgery reduction. 18 (30.0) 42 (70.0)

f) Sampooran Shiksha Programme 10 (16.7) 50 (83.3)

Figures in parentheses indicate percentage.

Table 2. Opinion scores of respondents regarding the women empowerment programmes. (N=60)

Sr. No. Statement ScoreThese women empowerment programmes will

i Make women aware of their rights 2.63ii Help women in fighting against discrimination 2.55iii Help in improving health of family members 2.33iv Help in getting financial aid from banks 2.16v Enable the women to act as self sufficient women 2.03vi Help in strengthening family relations 1.96vii Give women confidence to persue their goals 1.95viii Help to improve the status of women 1.93ix Provide equality of rights between women and men 1.86x Help to develop ability to make better decisions in the family 1.86


Gill et al

3

and men. However, they had no specific idea aboutwhether these programmes will enable women toact as self sufficient. Similarly statements like helpsin strengthening family relations, give womenconfidence to pursue goals, help to improve thestatus of the women could get relatively low scoresin terms of attaining overall betterment of thewomen folk.

Suggestions for proper implementation ofthese programmes were also invited from therespondents. The data pertaining to this aspectwas presented in table 3.

The results revealed that the suggestions ofrespondents for better implementation of theseschemes and programmes included provisions forexpert guidance (96.7%) at the top most priorityfollowed by training programme for elderly tochange their rigid attitude for women workforceparticipation (93.3%). Empowerment of womenalso requires the participation and co-operationfrom men. We can catch up with the rest of theworld through changing traditional mind-sets thataccord women second class status in society

Table 3. Division of respondents according to their suggestions for proper implementation of these programmes.

Sr. No. Suggestion ResponseYes No

1. Government and NGO must play role for generating awareness 52 (86.7) 8 (13.3)about various schemes.

2. Expert guidance should be made available at various stages for 58 (96.7) 2 (3.3)improving quality and marketing.

3. Training programmes for elderly men and women of households 56 (93.3) 4 (6.7)for changing their rigid attitude towards women workforce participation.

4. Training programme should be conducted for developing 5 (83.3) 10 (16.7)entrepreneurial skills.

Figures in parentheses indicate percentage.

(Jayanthi, 2001). Further, 83.3 per cent of womendesired training programmes for skilldevelopment and 86.7 per cent respondents aboutawareness generation programmes. All therespondents were of the opinion that theseprogrammes if implemented in true spirit willdefinitely improve the quality of life and status ofwomen.

CONCLUSIONEmpowerment of women calls for strict and

rigid implementation of all the programmes thathave a bearing on their lives. Mere passing of lawsand launching of welfare schemes have a littlemeaning for women. So, it can be concluded thatcareful planning and implementation of womenempowerment programmes on the part of thegovernment across the country with thecooperation of the civil society will go a long wayin empowerment of women.

REFERENCESJayanthi C (2001). Empowering women. Yojna 45 : 32-40.

Received on 25/3/2015 Accepted on 15/4/2015


Awareness Regarding Women Empowerment Programmes

4

Bee Keeping Enterprise Among Rural Men andWomen in Moga District

Gagan Jyot Kaur and Jagbir RehalKrishi Vigyan Kendra, Moga 142 001 (Punjab)

ABSTRACTA survey was conducted to evaluate the adoption trend of bee keeping as a subsidiary enterpriseamong the rural men and women in the district. The period taken in consideration was fromyear 2005 to 2014. All the beekeepers practiced bee keeping with Apis mellifera and beforestarting the enterprise the beekeepers took a formal training from Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK).Availability of flora, government policies and quick transfer of technology were importantfactors affecting the adoption in the area. The productivity of the boxes varied significantlydepending upon the practice followed i.e., stationary or migratory. The average number ofboxes owned by an individual outnumbered the number of subsidised boxes. A cluster ofbeekeepers was existing in the Baghapurana block and another upcoming cluster was locatedin Moga 1. The farmers were satisfied and wanted to start the enterprise due to quick returns,low investment and less time requirement. Rural women are showing an increased interest ingetting the training and adopting the enterprise for enhancing the household income.

Key Words: Bee keeping, Moga, Productivity, Survey, Bee keepers Cluster.

INTRODUCTIONBee keeping is an important subsidiary

enterprise which has an integral role in agricultureproviding economic, nutritional and ecologicalbalance to the rural India. In the past honeyproduction was mainly dependent on fourindigenous species viz. Apis cerena, Apis dorsata,Apis florae and Trigona sp. The attack of ThaiSac Brood Virus disease (TSBVD) in 1992 firstidentified in Karnataka lead to the eradication ofApis cerena , opening the other options. It wasthen that Punjab Agricultural University (PAU)scientist introduced an improved importedcrossbreed honey bee Apis mellifera in Punjab.Slowly these species replaced all other due to betterhoney production and immunity against TSBVD.The present study was done with an objective tostudy the trend of beekeeping in the district, toevaluate the trend of women participation in theenterprise, to identify the bee keepers cluster andanalyse the productivity of the honey bee hive.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe study was conducted for a period from

April 2005-March 2014 in the district Moga. The

district has 323 villages, divided into five blocksnamely Moga1 (M1), Moga2 (M2), Nihal SinghWala (NSW), Baghapurana (BG) and Kot Ise Khan(KIK) The beekeepers data were obtained fromboth the primary and secondary sources. Theprimary information was collected throughhousehold survey, which verified the informationcollected from group meetings and discussions.The secondary information was collected fromother departments like Department of Horticulture,Department of Agriculture, bee breeders andvarious other organisations. A surveyquestionnaire was prepared reviewing relevantreferences and personal communications withapiculturists.

Data analysis and Productivity evaluation: Thecollected data were managed and analysed usingcomputer software, MS Excel.

Total Honey Produced (kg) X 100

Total Number of boxes from which honey produced

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe data collected from the survey showed

high population of bee keepers in Baghapurana

Productivity (kg/box) =



DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00026.4

5

and Moga1 followed by Kot Ise Khan, Nihal SinghWala and Moga 2. Minimum colonies (175) werereported in Moga 2 as it falls under urban andperi-urban region. It was reported that area undercultivation in Moga 1 is minimum (28,588 ha.) incomparison to other four blocks. Baghapuranatops the list with 4,91,345 ha.of cultivated area,followed by Kot Ise Khan (48,230.5 ha.), NihalSingh Wala( 33,822 ha.) and Moga1(32,898 ha.).Baghapurana reported highest number of beekeepers (56) followed by Moga 1(25), Kot IseKhan(15) and Nihal Singh Wala (13). It was foundthat number of beekeepers and number of boxeshad a direct correlation (Table 1). As the numberof bee keepers increased the number of boxes alsoincreased. The average number of boxes ownedper individual were 61 for Baghapurana, 56 forNihal Singh Wala, 41 for Kot Ise Khan, 68 forMoga 1 and 58 for Moga 2.

The block wise population and location of beekeepers in different villages is shown in Fig 1-4.Maximum number of beekeepers was reported inMalke (18), Samalsar (12) and Daudhar Garbi(11). The first two villages fall in Baghapuranaand latter in Moga 1 block.

Beekeepers with the highest number of boxes/individual (61) were reported in Baghapuranaforming a cluster. The number of beekeepers inMoga 1 are increasing rapidly and is predicted tobe another upcoming cluster of bee keepers.Clusters grow faster in the presence of strongrelated neighbouring clusters and the increase innumber of bee keepers would increase the beecolonies finally increasing the honey production,processing and packaging. The establishment ofany industry depends upon the availability of rawmaterial. With the increase in honey productionin the area, it has scope for establishment of honeyprocessing and packaging plant. A strong clusterof bee keepers exists in Baghapurana,encouraging the farmers to enhance the growth

Table 1. Number of beekeepers and bee boxes in the district.

Block Number of Bee Keepers TotalNumber of Boxes Number of Boxes /Individual

Bagha Purana 56 3,400 61Nihal Singh Wala 13 730 56Kot Ise Khan 15 619 41Moga 1 25 1,710 68Moga 2 3 175 58

opportunities with adoption of the beekeepingenterprise, other industries and clusters. Theincrease in bee keepers’ population could bemainly due to three factors namely flora, quicktransfer of technology and government policies.

Flora Flora is the key for the honey production and

its products (royal jelly, propolis etc.). Itsavailability around the year is very important.There is a wide variation in the availability ofdesirable flora in five blocks due to different soiltypes. Soil type varies from sandy in Kot Ise Khanto medium and heavy soils in Baghapurana andNihal Singh Wala. An area having a croppingpattern that includes oilseeds (mustard,sunflower), pear, cotton, arhar, eucalyptus,barseem in rotation results in higher honeyproduction. Horticulture crops cover an area of414 ha. in Moga with a production of 16,112 MT.Considering the fruit and vegetable production inthese blocks it is highest in Kot Ise Khan (44,273MT and 2,874 MT) followed by Baghapurana(3,290MT and 1,079 MT) and Nihal Singh Wala(3,267 MT and 713MT). Flora is an importantfactor which influences the productivity of thebox.

Farmers normally would follow (i) Migratoryor (ii) Stationary bee keeping practice. In case ofstationary beekeeping the boxes are kept in thefields at a fixed location restricting theirmovement, while in the other case the boxes aremobile and are moved from one location toanother depending upon the availability of floraand conducive weather conditions.

During the lean season when the flora is notavailable in abundance the bee farmers migratethe boxes to the adjoining areas of HimachalPradesh, Jammu Kashmir and Rajasthan. Thenumber of boxes owned by an individual affectsthe type of practice. It is observed that the farmers


Kaur and Rehal

6

having higher number of boxes per individualpractice migratory bee keeping for sustainabilityand economic benefit in comparison to farmerswith small number of boxes (Table 1). Fig (1)shows Baghapurana reported maximum numberof boxes (5,700) and the percentage of beekeeperspracticing migration is also higher, similar trendwas recorded for Moga 1. In Moga 2 there are nofarmers practicing the stationary bee keeping.

Comparing the productivity of the boxes inmigration, highest productivity (22.05kg/box) wasreported for Moga 1 followed by Kot Ise Khan(19.72kg/box), Nihal Singh Wala (18.8kg/box),Baghapurana (17.3kg/box) and Moga2 (14.72kg/box) (Fig 2) while the productivity for beekeeperspracticing stationary beekeeping was 5.81 forMoga 1, 13.3 for Kot Ise Khan, 10.0 for NihalSingh Wala and 12.5kg/box for Baghapurana. Theaverage productivity of stationary boxes tomigratory boxes varied significantly from 8.33-18.43 kg/box. The results were in agreement withthose reported by Bhusall and Thappa (2005).Stationary boxes reported a significant differencein productivity varying from 5.8kg/box to 12.5kg/box. It could be due to various reasons likebee keeping practice (single box/supers), pestinfestation, lack of training and book keeping.

There is a high potential of increasing the honeyyield in stationary boxes.

(ii) Quick transfer of technologyThe geographical location confirms Moga1

proximity to Ludhiana and Baghapurana’s toFaridkot. This allows them to have access toneighbouring KVK’s. These institutes provideformal technical knowhow to start the enterprise.It was found that 90 per cent of bee keepers hadacquired formal training in bee keeping from Govtrecognised institution. The trend could be due tothe present subsidy policy of government. For anindividual to avail subsidy a bee keeping trainingis mandatory. The survey revealed majority of beekeepers took the training from their native district(Moga) and very few took it from theneighbouring districts Ludhiana, Bathinda andFaridkot (Fig 3).

The data show that the number of womenparticipants have increased from 1 (in 2009) to26 (in 2014) which sums to an increase from 5per cent (2009) to 17 per cent (2014) of women.This change in trend could be due to variousfactors like education, previous involvement ofthe family in bee keeping and subsidy. It was seenthat 67 per cent of the participants fell in the age


Bee Keeping Enterprise Among Rural Men and Women

7

group of 20-40 years, 3 per cent fell in the agegroup of under 20 and the remaining 30 per centfell in the age group of 40-60 years. The 90 percent of women were educated at least till the grade10th and had shown an interest in engagingthemselves in earning extra income throughsubsidiary occupation.

Analysing the adoption trend in the Mogadistrict during the last. Fig 4 shows the adoptionwas at a steady rate (under 5 from the year 1995-2005).The trend picked up from 2007 onwardswhich could be due to establishment of a beekeeping unit at the KVK farm and the availabilityof an expert to guide the individuals for quickadoption, bringing awareness among the ruralyouth and farmers in regards to the economic andenvironmental benefits. The economic benefitfrom honey has increased by 100 per cent duringthe last one decade. In the year 2005 the wholesale rate of honey was Rs 65/kg in comparison toRs 130/kg in 2014. In the year 2013-14, trainingprograms sponsored by the National HorticultureMission (NHM) were hosted at KVK and othergovernment departments to train more people inbee keeping and boost the self-employmentavenues. Bee keeping trainings (vocational andshort duration) were organised, more people weretrained; their exposure and horizons widened andquick adoption took place.

(iii) Government PoliciesGovernment has introduced various schemes

under NHM (pollination support through bee-keeping) to encourage the landless/marginal/smallscale farmers to adopt it as subsidiary enterprise.A number subsidies are been given away undervarious schemes which includes subsidy on (i)bee colonies, (ii) bee hives, (iii) equipments and(iv) production of bee colonies by bee breeders.To avail the above subsidies (i, ii, iii) it is requiredthat the applicant must have completed a formaltraining in basic bee keeping course (from SAU,KVK or Department of Agriculture) and itscertificate should be furnished along with thecompleted form available from Department ofHorticulture. To claim subsidy bee colonies andthe hives should be purchased from the registeredbee breeders. The Government has given licenseto thirty registered bee breeders in the state, who

are certified to commercially sell the bee keepingequipment and related material. From the list ofthirty breeders, thirteen are located in Moga andadjoining districts (Bathinda, Faridkot andLudhiana). Amongst them three are located inMoga; two in Baghapurana and one in Moga1block. Presence of bee-breeders confirms easyavailability of the bee keeping equipment (smoker,extraction unit, knives) bee keeping boxes, comb,protection gear, and is an important factor forcluster formation. To avail the subsidy thepurchase bills should be attached along with thecompleted forms. Individual entitlement forsubsidy is 50 boxes, considering the entire districtan average of 57 boxes per individual wascalculated, which out numbers the subsidisedboxes (50 boxes/ individual). This implies thateven if the farmer is getting subsidy on 50 boxesthey are increasing the number of boxes (>50).Theeconomic benefit (income enhancement) with lowinvestment could be the major driving force foradoption.

CONCLUSIONBeekeeping is one of the most respected and

satisfied subsidiary profession which can generatesignificant secondary income to beekeepers. Thelocation of Moga district is appropriate for the beekeeping and number of bee keepers has increasedwhich could be due to cumulative effect of lowinvestment, government policies, less labourintensive and expert guidance in close vicinity.An upcoming trend of women participation inadoption of bee keeping as an enterprise has comeup and the women belonging to reserved categoryneeds to be encouraged for enterprise adoption.It is significant that an individual owns an averageof 57 boxes in the district which out numbers thesubsidised boxes (50). This trend shows widepopularisation and acceptance of the enterpriseamong the farmers. The average productivity ofthe stationary box is significantly low which canbe improved by incorporating diversification incropping pattern and timely management of hivesduring the lean period. High population (clusters)of bee keepers were found close to the locationof bee breeders. The breeders play an importantrole in adoption of the enterprise so thegovernment should try to introduce policy


Kaur and Rehal

8

allowing at least one bee breeder in each block.Kot Ise Khan block has a favourable conditionsfor bee keeping, recording the highest averageproductivity. Special training program or campsshould be organised to encourage farmers in thearea for its adoption. Government has taken aninitiative to widen the earning horizons of small

and marginal farmer which are bearing fruits asthe adoption is increasing.

REFERENCESBhusal S J and Thapa R B (2005). Comparative study on the

adoption of improved beekeeping technology for Povertyalleviation . J Inst Agric Anim Sci 26:117-125.



Bee Keeping Enterprise Among Rural Men and Women

9


Consumption Pattern of Green Leafy Vegetables byRural Women in District Thiruvananthapuram

J R Krishnendu and B PrasannakumariDepartment of Home Science

College of Agriculture, Vellayani- 695 522, Kerala Agricultural University ( Kerala)

ABSTRACT The present study was conducted with the objective of promoting consumption of greenleafy vegetables among rural women through an intensive educational programme employingparticipatory techniques. The impact of this programme was assessed after three months byconducting a post test. The results showed that there was a significant gain in knowledge andchange in attitude of the respondents thus pointing out the positive impact of the nutritioneducation programme. The post test revealed a significant change in the consumption of greenleafy vegetables by the respondents. Locally available leafy vegetables were found to be includedin the supplementary feeding programme of the five selected anganwadi centers. The studyproved that this programme can be successfully implemented in all anganwadi centers of thestate. The increase in the actual green leafy vegetable consumption will surely help to alleviatethe micronutrients deficiency prevalent in the state especially among women and children.

Key Words: Green leafy vegetables, Anganwadi workers, Awareness programme, Nutrition.

INTRODUCTIONGreen leafy vegetables represent an excellent

component of the habitual diet and a daily intakeof at least 100g of fresh green leafy vegetable hasbeen recommended by the Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR, 1999). India’s floracomprises of 6,000 species of plants used forconsumption, one third of which are green leafyvegetables. Leafy vegetables not only supply theprotective nutrients, add variety to a monotonousdiet but also have an alternative taste, pleasingappearance and aroma. Green leafy vegetables arealso inexpensive and locally available and studieshave proved that their consumption can beimproved greatly if people are convinced of thenecessity for including them in the diet.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe study was conducted in rural area of

Athiyannoor ICDS Block in Thiruvananthapuramdistrict. Hundred rural women who wereparticipants of the Integrated Child DevelopmentServices (ICDS) programme selected from fiveAnganwadi centers of Athiyannoor formed thestudy sample. Knowledge about green leafy

vegetables and their nutritive and health benefitswas collected from the respondents through aknowledge test developed for the purpose. Dataon consumption of green leafy vegetables andnutrition related practices of the respondents wereassessed using an interview schedule.

In order to measure the knowledge level ofthe rural women regarding green leafy vegetables,a nutrition knowledge test was developed bymeans of a simple teacher made objective typetest constructed following the procedure adoptedby Kumar (1990) with slight modifications. Carewas taken to ensure that the questions coveredthe entire range of subject matter selected for thestudy. An item pool of 35 statements relevant togreen leafy vegetables on selected areas such asnutritive needs, nutritive value, medicinalimportance, bioavailability and antinutrient factorswas prepared. These statements were preparedfrom relevant literature. Both positive and negativestatements were formed. Care was taken to usesimple and clear statements with no ambiguity inlanguage or idea to avoid confusion and doubts.A jury of subject experts analyzed the statements.


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00027.6

10

In light of the suggestions made by experts, 25statements were selected and were pre-tested.Based on the result of the pre-test five statementswere discarded and remaining 20 items wereselected for constructing the knowledge test.

The responses were collected in a dichotomouspattern i.e., Yes or No. Each correct response wasgiven a score of one and the incorrect responsewas given a score of zero. Finally the scores wereadded up to get the knowledge score for eachrespondent. The maximum score for the testdeveloped was 20 and the minimum score was 0.Frequency of use of different leafy vegetables inthe dietaries of respondents was also assessed.Frequency of use of leafy vegetable was measuredusing a 6 point rating scale. The frequency scoreof use of each leafy vegetable used by therespondents was calculated separately using theformula suggested by Reaburn et al (1979).

Percentage of total score for each green leafyvegetable

R1S

1+R

2S

2+R

3S

3+….........................………R

nS

n

n

S1: Scale of rating given for frequency of use of agreen leafy vegetable (i=1, 2, 3, ……….5)

R1: Per centage of respondents coming under eachfrequency group (i=1, 2, 3,……………5)

n: Maximum scale rating (n = 6 )

The mean value calculated using the formula givenbelow

Mean score for each green leafy vegetable

=R1S

1+R

2S

2+R

3S

3+…………………………R

nS

n

100

The percentage of respondents using eachgreen leafy vegetable and also their preferencewere thus ascertained. Based on the knowledgeand consumption practices, the rural women wereimparted nutrition communication employingparticipatory approaches. This was achieved bymeans of discussions, demonstrations on leafyvegetable preparations, video show on differenttypes of leafy vegetables and their nutritive valueand distribution of leaflets so as to improveconsumption of micronutrient rich green leafyvegetables. Finally, in order to assess the impactof the programme post test was conducted among

the subjects to gain information regardingknowledge gained and also change inconsumption practices of green leafy vegetables.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe present study emphasized the need for

utilization of green leafy vegetables as a sourceof micro-nutrients and as a home based remedyand preventive measure for widely prevalentdeficiency diseases.

Use of green leafy vegetables by the respondentsData presented (Table 1) revealed that

coriander and curry leaves were the only leavesused by the respondents even though these cannotbe considered as leafy vegetables of nutritivesignificance in the diet considering the amountsconsumed. Cabbage and amaranthus were foundto be consumed thrice a week by 16 and 15 percent, respectively. Red and green amaranthus,drumstick leaves and cabbage were consumedtwice a week by 22, 10, 16 and 21 per centrespectively. Cauliflower was consumed once aweek by 16 per cent. Agathi and chekkurmaniswere consumed occasionally, 27 and 77 per centof respectively by the respondents. Basella (Vallicheera) which is a locally available leafy vegetablewas not consumed at all by 94 per cent of therespondents. Cowpea leaf, water leaf (Sambarcheera) and agathi were never used by 88, 81 and73 per cent of the respondents. From the table 1 itcan also be seen that the highest food frequencyscore were obtained by coriander and curry leaves(82.4 and 94). Cabbbage obtained the next highestscore of 60.6 followed by red amaranthus (58.4),drumstick leaf (53.2), green amaranth (52.0),cauliflower (46.4), chekkurmanis (45.0), agathi(25.4), water leaf (24. 4), cowpea leaf (22.4) andBasella 21.2 respectively.

Leafy vegetables are rich sources of mineralslike iron, calcium, potassium and magnesium, andvitamins like A, C, E and K and many of the Bvitamins. When consumed regularly they cansubstantially improve micronutrient status of theIndian population (Gupta and Prakash2009).Green leafy vegetables also contain manyhelpful phytochemicals or phytofactors inscavenging the dreadful free radicals generatedas metabolic byproducts in alleviating manyserious diseases (Kaur and Maini, 2006).


Krishnendu and Prasannakumari

11

Dietary surveys conducted among differentsegments of the population revealed thatconsumption of green leafy vegetables is muchlower than the recommended dietary allowanceof 100g/d. National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau(2000) Survey of Kerala also revealed thatconsumption of green leafy vegetables wasgrossly inadequate particularly among preschoolchildren. Data indicated that even low cost andlocally available leafy vegetables like amaranth,drumstick leaves, agathi and chekkurmanis notconsumed daily by most of the respondents.

The traditional green leafy vegetables likeponnaviram and lettuce leaf are never used bythe respondents. Ponnaviram leaves are the goodsource of protein and fibre as compared to theother green leafy vegetables. However now it isnot consumed due the pungent smell of theponnaviram leaves. It is also revealed that morethan 70 per cent of the respondents neverconsumed agathi leaf, water leaf, cowpea leaf andbasella which have been used traditionally.

Vitamin A rich leafy vegetables like amaranth,cabbage and drumstick leaves which are locallyavailable were used by 60 per cent of therespondents. Most of the respondents stated thatplucking of drumstick leaves for preparing dishwas a time consuming process so they avoidedthe use of drumstick leaves in their daily diet. Allthis may be mainly due to their ignorance aboutthe nutritional value of these leaves.

Table1. Consumption of green leafy vegetables by the respondents. (n=100)

Green leafy vegetables Daily (%) Thrice a Twice a Once a Occasionally Never Frequencyweek (%) week (%) week (%) (%) (%) score

Red amaranthus 0 10 22 18 50 0 58.4Green amaranth 0 5 10 25 60 0 52.0Drumstick leaf 0 8 16 10 66 0 53.2Agathi 0 0 0 0 27 73 25.4Water leaf 0 0 0 3 16 81 24.4Cowpea leaf 0 0 0 0 12 88 22.4Cabbage 0 16 21 13 50 0 60.6Basella 0 0 0 0 6 94 21.2Cauliflower 0 0 8 16 76 0 46.4Chekkurmanis 0 3 6 4 87 0 45.0Coriander 46 34 18 2 0 0 82.4Curry leaves 70 30 0 0 0 0 94.0

It was evident from the result that majority ofrespondents used colocasia leaves, chekkurmanis,cowpea leaf and water leaf only occasionally.Cauliflower is a vegetable grown in cold climateand is not easily available in the local market. Also,the cost factor of cauliflower may be anotherreason for it being occasionally used by therespondents. However other leafy vegetables areavailable but their consumption was also foundto be low among the respondents. Similar resultshave been reported by Unnithan (2008), Ramlath(2007). Similar study done by Kumari and Singh(2001) on secondary school children also reportedthat green leafy vegetables are inadequate inadolescent diet.

Distribution of subjects based on theirknowledge score

Data (Table 2) showed the mean score forknowledge for pre test was 14.81 while for thepost test it increased to 18.69. Result of the pairedt- test shows that the gain in knowledge wassignificant at 1 per cent level. From the scoreobtained for post test it is clear that there wassignificant gain in their knowledge. This may bebecause of the effectiveness of interventionprogramme. The respondents were exposed tomultimedia education programme like videoshow, charts, leaflets which enabled them tounderstand the importance of green leafyvegetables.


Consumption Pattern of Green Leafy Vegetables by Rural Women

12

Table2: Gain in knowledge of the respondents (n=100)

Group Mean score Gain in knowledgePre test 14.81 18.27**Post test 18.69

Several studies have shown that nutritioneducation and intervention increases thenutritional knowledge of the respondents(Razeena, 2000). Meenambigar and Seetharaman(2003) in their study on role of media in ruralcommunication concluded that an appropriatecombination of communication media can makepeople apply knowledge as well and motivatethem to seek more information.

Changes in Frequency of use of green leafyvegetables

Summative evaluation was conducted to findout the change in green leafy vegetableconsumption of the respondents after theparticipation in the nutrition communicationprogramme. Pre and post education scores of thefrequency of use per cent of leafy vegetablesconsumption given in the table 3 reveal that therewas an increase in the frequency of use of greenleafy vegetables.

Frequency scores of other leafy vegetableslike agathi leaf, water leaf (sambar leaf), cowpealeaf and basella were less than 30. After theintervention it can be seen that consumption of

cauliflower and cabbage was reduced while useof all the other leafy vegetables increased. The tvalue calculated shows that there was significantchange in the consumption of leafy vegetablesafter the intervention.

After the intervention programme, the leafyvegetable consumption of the respondents wasassessed once again by conducting diet survey.The result showed that the frequency of use ofgreen leafy vegetables by the respondents whoparticipated in the nutrition intervention increasedsignificantly in the present study. After theintervention programme the most frequently usedleafy vegetables were found to be curry leaves,coriander leaves, amaranth, drumstick leaves,agathi, sambar leaves (water leaf) and cowpealeaves. This may be due to the fact that therespondents became aware of the nutritive valueof locally available green leafy vegetables. Similarstudies by Gopalan (2000) and Hemalatha andPrakash (2002) also proved that respondents whoparticipated in nutrition intervention improvedtheir frequency of consumption of green leafyvegetables.

Result of the paired t- test shows that the gainin knowledge was significant at 1 per cent level.From the score obtained for post test it is clearthat there was significant gain in their knowledgedue to nutrition intervention programme. Thestudy proved that nutrition communication

Table3. Use of green leafy vegetables by the respondents before and after the intervention.(n= 100)

Frequency of useGreen leafy vegetable Before intervention After intervention ‘t’ value

Frequency score Mean score Frequency score Mean score

Red amaranth 58.4 2.920 63.4 3.170 4.890**Green amaranth 52 2.580 57.4 2.770 2.374*Drumstick leaf 53.2 2.660 64.6 3.220 5.668**Agathi leaves 25.4 1.270 32 1.600 6.193**Water leaf 24.4 1.220 35 1.750 9.192**Cowpea leaf 22.4 1.120 26.2 1.310 4.533**Chekkurmanis 45 2.250 47.6 2.380 2.802**Cabbage 60.6 3.030 59.4 3.140 1.521**Basella 21.2 1.060 23 1.250 4.533**Cauliflower 46.4 2.320 45.2 1.260 1.179**Coriander leaf 82.4 4.120 86.6 4.310 2.802Curry leaf 94 4.700 100 5.000 2.730**

** Significant at 1 per cent level ; * Significant at 5 per cent level


Krishnendu and Prasannakumari

13

programmes can be successfully implemented forrural women through anganwadi centers of thestate. The increase in the green leafy vegetableconsumption will surely help to alleviate themicronutrient deficiencies prevalent in the stateespecially among women and children.

CONCLUSIONLeafy vegetables are rich sources of minerals

like iron, calcium, potassium and magnesium, andvitamins like A, C, E and K and many of the Bvitamins. When consumed regularly they cansubstantially improve the micronutrient status ofthe Indian population. Green leafy vegetables alsocontain many helpful phyto-chemicals or phyto-factors in scavenging the dreadful free radicalsgenerated as metabolic byproducts in alleviatingmany serious diseases. The present study revealedthat the frequency use of green leafy vegetableswas low initially but after intervention it increasedsignificantly. Initially, low level of consumptionobserved may due to lack of awareness regardingimportance of green leafy vegetables in the dietwhich was improved by giving proper nutritioneducation.

REFERENCESGopalan C (2000). Health and nutrition education of the community

choosing the appropriate channels. Nutrition foundation ofIndia bulletin, New Delhi. P 28.

Gupta S and Prakash J (2009). Studies on Indian green leafyvegetable for their antioxidant activity. Pt Fd Hum Nutr 64:39-45.

Hemalatha K and Prakash J (2002). An awareness creationprogramme for women on nutrition through green leafyvegetables. Ind J Nutr Dietet 40:64-66.

Indian Council of Medical Research (1999). Nutrient Requirementsand Recommended Dietary Allowances for Indians. NationalInstitute of Nutrition. Hydrabad.11-67.

Kaur N and Maini D (2006). Impact of nutrition councelling onthe knowledge, attitude, and practice scores of at risk coronaryheart diseases subjects. Ind J Nutr Dietet 43:82-89.

Kumari P and Singh U (2001). Impact of supplementation ofquality protein maize ladoos on the nutritional status of pregnantwomen. Ind J Nutr Dietet 28:48-54.

National Nutrition Monitorig Bureau Reports, 2000. http:// www.nnmbindia.org.

Ramlath P (2007). Effect of counseling under dietary habit offisher folk. M.Sc. (H.Sc) thesis, Kerala Agricultural University,Thrissur,17-99.

Razeena K A ( 2000). Impact of educational programmes on thehealth and dietary practices of the workers of sewage farmin Thiruvananthapuram. M.Sc. (HSc) thesis, KeralaAgricultural University, Thrissur,17-79.

Reburn J A, Krondle M and Lau D ( 1979). Social determinants infood selection. Am J Dietet 74: 637- 42.

Santhoshkumar S (1990). An experimental study on the relativeeffectiveness of selected visual aids in teaching neoliterate. M.Sc. (Ag) thesis, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur.198p.

Unnithan A G ( 2008). Contributing factors and problemsassociated with overweight among rural and urban schoolchildren, Ph.D thesis KAU, Thrissur. 140-147p.



Consumption Pattern of Green Leafy Vegetables by Rural Women

14


Cultivation of Pusa Narangi Variety of Marigold forCrop Diversification and Empowering Farm Women

in Malwa Plateau of Madhya PradeshRekha Tiwari, D S Tomar , A K Dixit and A K Saxena

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, (Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya)Ujjain 456 010 (Madhya Pradesh)

ABSTRACTFlower cultivation is a profitable venture for the small and marginal farmers, as the traditionalcrops are becoming less remunerative. Marigold cultivation in rural areas by farm women suitsthe most as it requires care and nurturing, picking and packing with care in which the femaleworkers have an edge over the male counterparts. Cultivation of marigold variety Pusa Narangiin Malwa plateau of Madhya Pradesh has successfully demonstrated that this crop can be grownround the year. The variety was introduced in the year 2007 and was assessed through on farmtrials, followed by front line demonstrations for three consecutive years. The present study wasundertaken to assess the benefits of cultivating Pusa Narangi variety of marigold for cropdiversification and boosting the income of farm women exclusively for which they were impartedpractical training on the package of practices and marketing strategy. The result showed thatround the year cultivation yielded 1.25 t/ ha and giving a net profit Rs 1,17,609/- as against Rs35,975/- with the local cultivar Saathi. Hence, it can be stated that this was a novel diversificationmodel to economically empower the farm women on sustainable basis.

Key Words: Marigold, Participatory Rural Appraisal, Farm Women.

INTRODUCTION:The Government of India has taken several

initiatives for Women’s Empowerment by passinga policy, much of the rural women’s work has notbeen accounted in official statistics. Women’slimited ability to own land and property negativelyaffects their ability to participate in producergroups, receive income for their labour, andbenefit from agricultural services (Ellis et al,2007). The growth in agricultural in the countryhas been associated with an increase in femaleemployment, a process that is often claimed toenhance women’s empowerment. However,empowerment is a contested concept and severalstudies have highlighted that far from empoweringworkers, employment can often be precarious,exploitative and harmful.

Madhya Pradesh is the second largest state andranks seventh in population, located centrallysurrounded by the states of Rajasthan to thenorthwest, Uttar Pradesh to the north, Chhattisgarh

to the east and Maharashtra to the south, andGujarat to the west. The State is primarily anagriculture State. About 73 per cent population ofthe state is rural; hence agriculture is the main stayof the state economy. The Agriculture and alliedservices contributes about 44 per cent share instate economy and 78 per cent of its working forceis directly engaged in agriculture. In recent years,greater emphasis has been given to horticulturalsector and at present state is producing about 7.69MMT of horticulture produce from an area of 0.75M ha. The major share of horticulture produce isfrom vegetables (48.1%), fruits (43.8%) and only8.1 per cent from flowers. Flower cultivation inperi urban areas accounts to 9.16 M ha with totalproduction of 7.14 MT and a poor productivityof mere 0.78 MT per ha.

Ujjain district of Madhya Pradesh lies in theMalwa plateau region characterized by lowrainfall, recurrent drought with a frequency of onein every four years and three out of five years


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00028.8

15

receive sub-optimal rainfall i.e. below 890 mm.This poses a serious situation for the farmersparticularly the small and marginal farmers whoseearnings are not sustainable owing to lack of cropand enterprise diversification. Agriculture can bean important engine of growth and povertyreduction but the sector is underperformingbecause women, who are often a crucial resourcein agriculture and the rural economy, faceconstraints that reduce their productivity.

To take care of this precarious situation, KrishiVigyan Kendra took an intervention among thefarm women who could exclusively devote theirtime, energy and land for the cultivation of flowersparticularly the marigold which has round the yeardemand in the holy city of Ujjain for garland anddecorative purposes at various kinds of religiousand social functions. Keeping this in mind, thestudy was conducted to know personal andeconomic characteristics of the farm women, tointroduce new variety of marigold- Pusa Narangiand to assess the income generation by adoptingthis new variety of marigold.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Selection of VillageThe cultivation of flowers is predominant in

two major blocks of the district Ujjain and Ghatiya;hence they were selected for the present studybased on their area and production. ParticipatoryRural Appraisal (PRA) was used to access the realinformation of the village and villagers. Thefarming pattern of the village was assessed inwhich the cultivators group was categorised ingrain, cereal, potato, vegetable and flowercultivator etc. Among them the major group offlower cultivator were approached. The mainfocus was given on those groups where womeneither participated or were fully engaged in all theprocess of cultivation of flowers.

Package of PracticesFull package of practices were adopted by the

target group. The land was ploughed oncefollowed by cross harrowing and planking andthe soils were medium black having good waterretention capacity. Farm yard manure wasincorporated at the rate of 10 t/ha followed by

recommended dose of N: P: K @ 150:80:100 kg/ha. Nursery was raised under raised beds with lowtunnel poly-house arrangement. Raised beds wereprepared prior to transplanting with a width of 75cm and plants were transplanted at a spacing of60 cm followed by 2 to 3 manual weeding to takecare of weeds. To facilitate irrigation and promotehealthy growth water was applied in furrows. After45-50 days nipping was done to promote growthof lateral branches and check the apical dominanceand get more flower buds per plant.

A well structured questionnaire was preparedfor assessing the information and data. Thequestionnaire was fulfilled through personalinteraction of each farm women. The main focuswas given on the age group also and the selectedgroup was not more than 45 years. The experimentwas conducted by taking two treatments as under:

Treatment (T1): In the Malwa region localvariety of Marigold -Saathi is very popular butfrom the economic point of view its productionwas not satisfactory. Hence for replacing theSaathi variety, a new variety of marigold wasintroduced.

Treatment (T2): Pusa Narangi variety fromIARI was first assessed at farmer’s field in the year2008. This variety was chosen as varietalintervention along with full package of practiceand having the following traits such as, attractiveprice in market due to appealing saffron colour,big size, compact and each petal well shaped,good keeping quality(4-5 days) and high yieldas compared to the local variety.

An area of 0.4 ha was chosen for thisintervention. Farm women were provided with 150g seed to raise the nursery. Seedlings of about 35to 40 d were transplanted on ridges and furrows.Nipping of the plot was done after the initiationof first flower bud to break the apical dominanceand promote branching and more bud formation.Regular plant protection measures were adoptedtill the last picking and the last flush was allowedto mature to form the seed for the successive year.The data recorded on various parameters ofgrowth, flower attribute, yield attributes andflower yield were subjected to statistical analysis(Panse and Sukhatme, 1989).


Tiwari et al

16

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONPersonal profile of farm women

Personal characteristics and profile of theselected farm women as depicted in the Table 1gives a clear indication that the age of the farmwomen varied between 20 yr at the lower leveland 45 yr at the upper age limit. Among themmaximum farm number of women ( 37.5 %)belonged to age group more than 35 yr whereasonly (05) women were of 31 -35 age groupcategory. A total of 35 women were young comingin the age group (20-25 years). Nine women werebetween 26-30 yr. In case of literacy level, it wasevident that in rural areas, still education ofwomen’s is neglected phenomenon as in the otherpart of the country and the same was reflected inthe PRA. None of the farm women had evenpassed high school. Fourty per cent farm womenwere illiterate and 40 per cent were educated upto primary school. Only 8 women (20 %) had

passed middle school examination.

An important fact which came to the noticewas that nuclear family system was growing fasterin the rural areas also and not a phenomenonlimited to the urban areas exclusively. The datarevealed that 25 families (62.5 %) lived in thenuclear family whereas only 15 farm women(17.5 %) belonged to the joint family system. Thismeans that due to certain socio-economic andpersonal reasons craze of nuclear family patternwas increasing in rural area very drastically. Sixtyper cent families had 4-6 family members and only10 per cent had more than 7 members at home.

Land holdingLand holding in the village ranged between 1

to 5 ha/ family. Maximum number (32.5%) of thefamilies had small land holding i.e. 1 to 2 ha andminimum (17.5 %) owned more than 4 ha/family.Hence, the economic condition of the village was

Table 1. Personal profile of the selected farm women.

Parameter No. of Respondents(N=40) Percentage Mean + SD VarianceAge (yr.)20-25 14 35.0 30.72526-30 09 22.5 + 73.28131-35 02 05.0 8.5635and above 15 37.5 (20 to 45)

EducationNot Literate 16 40.0 1.825 3.328Up to Primary 16 40.0 +Middle School 08 20.0 1.824High School 00 00.0 (0 to 6)College 00 00.0

Family typeNuclear 25 62.5Joint 15 37.5

No. of members 4.4751-3 12 30.0 + 2.0514-6 24 60.0 1.432>7 04 10.0 (2 to 7)

Land holding (ha)1.0 - 2.0 13 32.5 2.8382.0 -3.0 10 25.0 + 1.0183.0 -4.0 10 25.0 1.0094.0 and more 07 17.5 (1 to 5)

Income of the family (000) 2.0250.8-1.0 06 15.0 + 0.7011.0-2.0 18 45.0 0.8382.0 and more 16 40.0 (0.8 to 4.0)

(Figures in the parenthesis indicates the maximum and minimum value)


Cultivation of Pusa Narangi Variety of Marigold

17

also not very satisfactory. The per annum incomeof the family was 0.8- 4 lac. Maximum numberof the family fell in the income range of 1- 2 lac(45 %) while 15 per cent families earned only 0.8– 1 lac per annum. Hence, it was clear that, thelandholding of the villagers was less and hencecould be designated under the marginal category.So, in order to boost the economic viability a shiftin the existing crop through diversification andintroduction of the new crop and variety withreasonable market opportunity was essentialkeeping in view about the age group and literacylevel.

Performance of crop and economic outcomeThe data (Table 2) indicated that the existing

local cultivar Saathi was out performed by thevariety Pusa narangi in all the crop growthparameters. The improved variety wassignificantly taller than the local by more than 31cm. Similarly, T2 had significantly more numberof branches thus giving more floral buds andflowers per plant. Both these parameters werehigher over T1 by 65 per cent. Data furtherrevealed that the yield of T2 varied significantlyand was higher by 126 per cent. This was probablydue to the scientific package of practice followedin T2 along with prolonged duration of floweringspread over 90 d as against on 45 to 60 d in thelocal cultivar. Besides this, T2 was found suitablefor growing in this agro-climate for almost ninemonths in succession except the period from Aprilto June when the irrigation facilities are limited in

this part of the malwa plateau. The above findingswere in line with the findings of Yadav et al (2000)and Kumar et al ( 2009).

Table 3 depicted the cost involved in thecultivation of both the cultivars which varysignificantly because of the fact that the farmersgrow the local cultivar with least input in terms ofmanure and fertilizer. Further this variety isrestricted in its growing period from August toOctober, so the tendency of the farmer is to growit with least input, harvest it around the Diwalifestival and make some money. After that periodthey had no alternative for marigold. T2 varietyhas given an almost round the year option for thefarmers and farm women for the most demandedflower in this region. The cost of cultivation perquintal of T2 was Rs 184/- as against Rs 329/-under T1. The initial cost in terms of input in T2may seem to be higher but the total net return as aresult of higher yield leads to a benefit cost ratioof 6.0 as against only 2.9 inT1. Larger sizedflower as depicted in table 2 also fetchedhandsome price in the market as compared to T1and hence was more viable, economical and analternative to higher income to the family in astaggered manner on a continuous basis.

CONCLUSIONIt can be concluded that all category of farmers

particularly farm women if devote a small pieceof land to flower cultivation, round the year thenet income of the family can be increased manyfolds. Higher B:C ratio suggested that the

Table 2. Growth parameters and yield of marigold variety pusa narangi.

Treatment Height (cm) Branches /Plant Flowers/Plant Flower Dia. cm Yield qt / ha

T1: (Sathi) 68.3 3.678 17.12 3.14 56.49T2: (Pusa Narangi) 99.448 6.085 28.25 5.36 128.52Coefficient of Variation 2.99 8.24 3.72 10.83 19.09CD (0.05) 1.13 0.18 0.38 0.21 7.99

Table 3. Economics of marigold cultivation.Treatment Cost Of Gross Income Net Income Benefit

Cultivation (Rs/ha) (Rs/ha) (Rs/ha) Cost ratioT1: (Sathi) 18,636 55,053 35,975 2.9T2: (Pusa Narangi) 23,752 1,41,362 1,17,609 6.0Coefficient of Variation 9.16 19.58 25.03CD (0.05) 878.5 8701.2 8693.9


Tiwari et al

18

enterprise was viable and the continuousdemonstrations of farmers field suggested that theyields were sustainable and sufficient to meet theprice fluctuations when averaged over longerperiod of time in a year, particularly if the cropwas grown in succession for more than ninemonths.

REFERENCESEllis A, Cutura J, Dione N, Gillson I, Manuel C and Thongori G

(2007). Gender and Economic Growth in Kenya: Unleashingthe Power of Women. Washington, D.C., World Bank.

Kumar Dhiraj, Singh B P and Singh Vivekanand (2009). Effect ofintegrated nutrient management on growth, flowering behaviourand yield of African marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) cv. AfricanGiant Double Orange. J Hortl Sci 4 (2): 134-137

Govindasamy Agoramoorthy , Minna J Hsu (2012). Impact offloriculture development enhances livelihood of India’s ruralwomen. Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development in theTropics and Subtropics 113 ( 1) : 69–76.

Panse V G and Sukhatme P V (1989). Statistical methods foragricultural workers. 5th ed., ICAR, New Delhi.

Yadav P K, Singh S, Dhindwal A S and Yadav M K (2000).Effect of nitrogen and FYM application on floral charactersand yield of African marigold. Haryana J Hort Sci 29:69-71



Cultivation of Pusa Narangi Variety of Marigold

19

Empowering Tribal Women Through BackyardPoultry in Bastar District of Chhattisgarh

A K Chaturvedani, Niranjan Lal, Khalid, N K Khyalia and Jitendra PratapDivision of Extension Education

Indian Veterinary Research InstituteIzatnagar, Bareilly- 243 122 (Uttar Pradesh)

ABSTRACTThis study was carried out in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. A multi-stage random samplingprocedure was used to select 120 respondents from 10 villages of two blocks. A structuredinterview schedule duly pre-tested and validated was used to elicit information from therespondents during February to April, 2014. Data were analyzed using frequency and percentage.It was found that majority of the poultry growers have primary to secondary level educationand small size family. Agriculture was noticed as primary (51.7%) and poultry as secondaryoccupation (35.4%) with average flock size of 13.3±4.2 desi birds , reared with locally availablematerials at the household level. The egg productivity of desi birds was 36.5±0.2 eggs andselling price @ Rs 7.0±0.07/egg in local market whereas body weight gain was 1.4±0.02 kg/bird/yr and selling price @ Rs 310.2±2.1/kg live bird. It was also observed that involvement ofwomen was more in housing ,feeding, breeding, health care, marketing and consumption thanjoint and collective participation of family members which contributed to a large extent inincreasing the household income of a small family. Later on, this income generated frombackyard poultry rearing was invested for household, poultry production and recreation purposesdepending upon the felt needs. From this study, it can be concluded that the backyard poultryrearing with full participation of rural women helped in empowering women’s of tribalcommunities in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.

Key Words: Women, Backyard Poutry, Egg, Meat, Management Practices.


INTRODUCTIONBackyard poultry is an important livelihood

component of rural tribal’s, providing valuableanimal protein source through egg and meat andaid in economic improvement by providingsubsidiary income. Market oriented backyardpoultry enterprises are being recognized as astepping stone for the poorest households enablingthem to take the first step towards breaking out ofthe vicious circle of poverty and deprivation. Thereis also growing evidence to demonstrate the roleof rural poultry farming in enhancing the foodand nutrition security of the poorest households,reducing the livelihood vulnerability andinsecurity and promotion of gender equity (Ahujaand Sen, 2007)

Chhattisgarh State has about 142.45 lakh totalpoultry population. The estimated number of

layers in Chhattisgarh was 62.6 lakh and eggproduction about 12,385 lakh during the year2011-12. Average productivity per layer was 198eggs/yr and per capita availability was 52 eggs.In Bastar district, about 70 per cent of the totalpopulation is tribes which is 26.8 per cent of thetotal tribal population of Chhattisgarh state. Themajor tribes of the Bastar region are the Gond,Abhuj Maria, Bhatra, Halbaa, Dhurvaa, Muriaand Bison Horn Maria. Gonds are also the largesttribal group of central India.

The Bastar Integrated Livestock DevelopmentProject (BILDP), implemented by the Governmentof Chhattisgarh and initially supported by theDanish International Development Assistance(DANIDA), made an effort to enhance livelihoodbased on indigenous poultry rearing. Theexperience from the project showed how simple,


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00029.X

20

cost-effective interventions, with adequateextension and support systems, contributed to theimprovement of poultry and the farm managementcapabilities of tribal farmer in the Bastar regionof Chhattisgarh. In this context, an attempt wasmade to study the role of women in backyardpoultry farming system in bastar district ofChhattisgarh so that in future such programmescan be undertaken for the women empowerment.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe Bastar district comprises of 7 blocks, out

of which two blocks namely Bakawand andJagdalpur were chosen randomly. From eachblock, 5 villages were selected and from eachvillage, 12 poultry growers were selectedrandomly, thus making a total of 120 poultrygrowers for the study. The data were collectedusing a well-structured and pre tested interviewschedule by covering all the dimensions ofinvolvement of women in management and healthcare i.e. housing, feeding, breeding, health care,marketing of desi backyard poultry birds andincome from poultry. Data were interpreted byusing frequency and percentage analysis.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONProduction potential

Majority of the respondents reportedagriculture as primary (51.7%) and poultry assecondary occupation (35.4%) whereas 64.6 percent respondents reported backyard poultry as asubsidiary source of income for rural woman. Thedata (Table 1) revealed that average flock size ofdesi poultry was 13.3 birds which indicates thatfarmers kept poultry at small scale, as a secondarysource of nutritional and livelihood security. Theaverage age of maturity was 27.0 weeks, averageegg production per year was 36.5 eggs sold @ Rs7.0/egg. Live body weight of bird (1.93 kg) wassold @ Rs 310.2/kg. It was noticed that in this

area, the surplus live birds and eggs were marketeddirectly to consumers. Similar results onunorganized poultry farming in Uttar Pradesh werereported by Nandi et al (2007) and Saha (2003) onbackyard poultry rearing in west Bengal. Althoughthe productivity was very low of desi birds rearedby tribal’s but selling price of eggs and live birdsvery high than cross bred poultry which helps incompensating livelihood security.

Distribution of work among family membersIt was noticed that most of management

practices viz., housing, feeding, breeding, heathcare, marketing and consumption practices werecarried out by the women. Veeranna et al (1998)reported that women took active part in farmoriented activities in poultry production and Motinet al (2014) found that rural women’s role inbackyard poultry production has significantimportance. They are performing most of theactivities in backyard poultry rearing system withutmost care and interest.

Income utilization from poultryAs evident from data (Table 3) that majority

(87.5%) of the respondents utilized their incomefor household, (77.5%) for poultry production,(74.2%) for recreation, (43.3%) for medicine,(29.2%) for education of children, (10.0%) foragriculture and allied purposes and only (5.8%)utilized their income for livestock purchasingaccording to the need of money at that time. Inbackyard system, the poultry growers spent theirmoney mostly on household, poultry productionand recreation which showed the activeparticipation of women’s in income generationfrom the backyard poultry rearing and ultimatelyhelped in empowering women in tribalcommunities of Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.Similar finding were also reported by Saha (2003)on backyard poultry rearing in West Bengal.

Table 1. Production potential of backyard poultry farming.Parameter Bakawan(n=60) Jagdalpur(n=60) Total(N=120)Av. flock size (No.) 12.8±4.2 13.8±4.1 13.3±4.2Av. age of maturity (weeks) 27.6±2.5 26.5±2.2 27.0±2.4Av. egg production/yr/ bird (No.) 35.9±1.9 37.0±1.8 36.5±1.9Av. selling price/ egg ( Rs) 6.9±0.8 7.1±0.6 7.0±0.7Selling weight of live birds (kg.) 1.9±0.3 1.9±0.1 1.9±0.3Av.selling price of meat/kg ( Rs.) 306.7±22.2 313.7±22.4 310.2±22.5


Chaturvedani et al

21

Table 2. Distribution of work among family members.Distribution of work Response of family member (N=120)

1 2 3 4 5Housing F % F % F % F % F %Type of housing. 0 0.0 47 39.2 29 24.2 19 15.8 25 20.8Time to release birds in morning. 0 0.0 18 15.0 0 0.0 13 10.8 89 74.2Time to receive birds in the evening. 0 0.0 18 15.0 0 0.0 13 10.8 89 74.2Number of birds to be kept. 11 9.2 19 15.8 0 0.0 24 20.0 66 55.0Cleaning of poultry house. 0 0.0 12 10.0 0 0.0 0 0.00 108 90.0

FeedingFeeding of balanced ration. 53 44.2 19 15.8 11 9.2 19 15.8 18 15.0Feeding supplementary ration. 11 9.2 10 8.3 8 6.7 14 11.7 77 64.2Scavenging. 0 0.0 9 7.5 0 0.0 19 15.8 92 76.7Preparation of balanced ration. 52 43.3 20 16.7 11 9.2 19 15.8 18 15.0Quantity of feed to be fed. 0 0.0 0 0.0 13 10.8 19 15.8 88 73.3Time of feeding. 0 0.0 10 8.3 0 0.0 15 12.5 95 79.2

BreedingNumber of egg kept for natural incubation. 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 15 12.5 105 87.5Purchase of chicks from hatchery. 74 61.7 29 24.2 0 0.0 17 14.2 0 0.0Selection of cock for breeding purpose. 0 0.0 72 60.0 0 0.0 12 10.0 36 30.0

HealthVaccination (s) to be done or not. 38 31.7 10 8.3 0 0.0 10 8.3 62 51.7Treatment of sick birds. 18 15.0 10 8.3 13 10.8 20 16.7 59 49.2Deworming. 25 20.8 17 14.2 0 0.0 18 15.0 60 50.0Care of chicks and birds. 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 26 21.7 94 78.3

MarketingWhether egg/meat to be sold or not. 0 0.0 27 22.5 0 0.0 64 53.3 29 24.2Quantity to be sold. 0 0.0 27 22.5 0 0.0 64 53.3 29 24.2Purchase of housing equipments. 0 0.0 58 48.3 19 15.8 30 25.0 13 10.8Number and type of birds to be sold. 0 0.0 27 22.5 0 0.0 54 45.0 39 32.5Place of sale of birds and eggs. 0 0.0 56 46.7 0 0.0 50 41.7 14 11.7Place of purchase of birds. 0 0.0 62 51.7 0 0.0 43 35.8 15 12.5Minimum price at which birds are to be sold. 0 0.0 39 32.5 0 0.0 67 55.8 14 11.7Utilization of money earned from poultry. 0 0.0 32 26.7 0 0.0 31 25.8 57 47.5

ConsumptionAmount of egg/meat consumed at home. 0 0.0 20 16.7 0 0.0 30 25.0 70 58.3Amount of egg/meat to be given as gift. 0 0.0 21 17.5 0 0.0 68 56.7 31 25.8Amount of egg/meat to be consumed by 36 30.0 8 6.7 0 0.0 56 46.7 20 16.7lactating and pregnant mother.

Total 120 100.0 120 100.0 120 100.0 120 100.0 120 100.0

(1= No response, 2= Independent decision by husband only, 3= Collective decision by all familymembers, 4= Joint decision by husband and wife only, 5= Independent decision by wife only)

CONCLUSIONRural poultry production is being recognized

as important component of socio economicimprovement among the weaker section ofsociety; specially landless labourer, small andmarginal farm women. Tribal backyard poultrygenerates self employment, providessupplementary income with protein rich food at

relatively low cost. However poor tribal farmwomen have maintained local desi strains withtraditional management generates a fruitfulincome because taste of desi poultry was largelyaccepted which created more demand in themarket. Its overall impact was observed onimproving livelihood and empowering the statusof women among tribal communities.


Empowering Tribal Women Through Backyard Poultry

22

Table 3. Distribution of respondents according to incomeutilization from poultry.

Income utilization Total (N=120)from poultry F %Education 35 29.2For household 105 87.5Recreation 89 74.2Medicine 52 43.3Agriculture 12 10.0Poultry production 93 77.5Livestock purchasing 7 5.8

Total 120 100.0

REFERENCESAhuja V and Sen A (2007).Viability and future of small scale

commercial poultry production in developing countries. Paper

presented at International Conference on Poultry in the 21stCentury: Avian Influenza and Beyond, Bangkok, November5-7, 2007.

Motin, G A, Goswami A, Mazumder D and Pal Biswajit (2014).Backyard poultry farming system: women and its role.International Journal of Development Research 4 (5):1122-1124.

Nandi S, Sharma K, Kumar P and Nandi D (2007). Poultryfarming: A rapidly growing profitable business. Poultry Line7 (12): 19-20.

Saha D (2003). Status of rural poultry production in North 24Parganas district of West Bengal. M.V.Sc. Thesis, IndianVeterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh.

Veeranna K C, Tripathi H and Mandape M K (1998).Extensionapproach for mobilizing rural women in backyard poultryproduction. Indian Farming 48 (3):13-15.



Chaturvedani et al

23


Empowerment of Self Help Group Members ofVirudhunagar District Through Vocational

Trainings on Mushroom ProductionS Muthuramu*, V K Paulpandi, S Sakthivel*, K Ramakrishnan and R Karthik

KrishiVigyan KendraVirudhunagar District, Tamilnadu – 626 107 (Tamilnadu)

ABSTRACTMushroom production can play a significant role to eradicate malnutrition, alleviate povertyand create employment opportunity for unemployed farm women in rural area. VocationalTraining programme is generally conducted by the Krishi Vigyan Kendras with a goal that thetrainee becomes an entrepreneur based on the acquired knowledge and skill. The vocationaltraining programmes were conducted by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Virudhunagar district to empowerincome generating ability of Self Help Groups (SHGs). Out of twelve SHGs trained, twenty fivewomen from eight different SHGs were randomly selected for the present study. Findings ofthe study revealed that most of the trainees were in the age group of 21-35 yrs of age. Majorityof them (36 %) were having education up to middle followed by matriculation (28 %). Fourrespondents (16 %) were landless, more than half (64 %) of these mushroom producers weresmall and marginal farm women and five (20%) were medium farm women. Total cost formushroom production per unit was Rs. 44,823/- and gross income was Rs. 1,35,000/-. Henceeach respondent may get Rs. 90,000/- as net income from their own unit every year. The modeof marketing was mainly direct sale in the unit itself, door delivery and local sale etc.

Key Words: Empowerment, Mushroom production, SHG, Vocational training.

INTRODUCTIONSelf Help Group (SHG) is a recent milestone

in the upliftment of women. Since women are avital part of the Indian economy constituting one-third of the national labour force and a majorcontributor to the survival of the family, they needto promote and enhance participation on an equalbasis with men in social, economic andempowerment process of rural development.Rural women bring income with productiveactivities ranging from traditional work in fieldsto working in agro based industries. The efficientrole of SHGs proved through various results ofentrepreneurial training as better entrepreneursand development managers in any kind of humandevelopment programmes. Most micro-financeinstitutions (MFIs) in India are built upon thegrassroots infrastructure of SHG.

Deeply embedded cultural and institutionalcharacteristics are the primary drives of national

entrepreneurial activity. Individual’sentrepreneurial capacity can be enhanced by goodeducation system. Krishi Vigyan Kendra atVirudhunagar district is shouldering thisresponsibility by training SHG members to takeup income generating activities like mushroomproduction, preparation of value added productsand composting technologies. Virudhunagardistrict consists of 987 women SHGs with amembership of 13248 women in association with13 NGOs. The vocational training programmeswere designed to empower income generatingability of SHGs. Hence the present study wasdesigned to assess the socio economic profile andeconomics of successful members among theSHGs of the Virudhunagar district in mushroomproduction.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe vocational trainings on mushroom

production were arranged at KVK, Virudhunagar.


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00030.6

24

The details of training schedules were disseminatedthrough mass media, group meetings and throughvillage meetings of various schemes. Twelveinterested SHGs were approached the KVK andgot benefit out of it. Vocational training onMushroom Production was conducted at KVK,Virudhunagar. Skill demo and video show onmushroom production were arranged to theparticipants and they were taken to otherproduction units to learn firsthand informationbased on the principle “seeing is believing”. Thetrainees were given chance to visit the farmers’day programmes at TNAU, Coimbatore, Agri Expoat Madurai and other extension activities wereorganized to them which encouraged the traineesto adopt mushroom production in large scale.

Out of twelve SHGs trained, twenty fivewomen from eight different SHGs were selectedfor the present study. An interview schedule wasdeveloped to collect the data regarding socio-economic profile of the respondents andeconomics of Mushroom production. Data werecollected from all the 25 successful mushroomproducers using interview schedule. The data werecollected by conducting personal interviews withthe selected respondents. The data collected from

the respondents were tabulated and analyzed byusing frequency and percentage. The socioeconomic profile of the women trainees wasstudied in terms of age, education, category, landholding and extension contact.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Socio-economic profile of women traineesThe result exhibits that majority of the

respondents were in young age group (76%) andremaining (24%) were in the middle age group(Table 1). This shows that mushroom productioncan be successfully promoted in rural areas forcreating self- employment among rural women.These results were in line with the findings of theRachna et al (2013). More than two third (64%)of the trainees were having education up to metriclevel, whereas, 24 per cent of respondents werehaving education up to higher secondary. Only12 per cent of the respondents were havingeducation up to graduation level. These resultswere in accordance with the study conducted bySharma and Dhaliwal (2014).

Data (Table 1) revealed that majority of therespondents (80%) were from backward category

Table 1. Socio-economic profile of trainees of different SHGs. (n=25)

Sr. No. Variable Frequency Percentage1. Age

Young (21-35) 19 76Middle (36-50) 6 24

2. EducationMiddle 9 36Metric 7 28

Higher secondary 6 24Graduation 3 12

3. CategoryGeneral 2 8

Backward 20 80Scheduled 3 12

4. Land holdingLandless 4 16

Marginal (<1ha) 9 36Small (1-2ha) 7 28

Medium (>2ha) 5 20

5. Extension contactLow 7 28

Medium 8 32High 10 40


Muthuramu et al

25

background while small proportion (8%) fromgeneral category. The number of respondents fromschedule caste category was only 12 per cent. Thismay be due to the less participation of the generaland schedule caste category trainees in the trainingprogrammes on mushroom production. Thisimplies that while selecting the trainees for anyentrepreneurship development programme, equalemphasis should be given for all categories.

More than one third (36%) of respondents weremarginal category women farmers having landholding less than one ha., while 28 per cent weresmall category women farmers. The successfulmushroom producers were also from mediumcategory (20%) and 16 per cent were landless.This indicates that the economic status of thelandless, marginal and small women farmers canbe improved by motivating them to adoptmushroom cultivation as main profession or assubsidiary occupation with the agriculture. Thisis in line with the statement of Mishra (2008).

It was observed that the mushroom producerswere in regular touch with the scientists of the

Table 2. Economics of mushroom production per unit per year.

a. Fixed cost1 Mushroom shed : Rs 45,000/-

Sprayer, irrigation pipes, straw cutting machine, ultra lamp and Auto clave : Rs. 15,600/-Depreciation 2% and Interest at 12% for one year (Item No.1) : Rs. 9,000/-Depreciation at 5% and interest at 12% for one year (Item No.2) : Rs. 1,872/-Total for Item No. 1 and 2 : Rs. 10,872/-

b. Variable cost1. Spawn bottle @ of Rs. 15/bottle ( 1000 bottles /6-8 cycle / one year : Rs. 15,000/-2. Straw 3200 kg for 1000 beds @ 3 kg/bed / Rs. 2 / kg : Rs. 6,400/-3. Polythene cover 30 kg @ Rs. 90/kg : Rs. 2,700/-4. Labour charges 120 man days (Rs. 60 / da y) : Rs. 7200/-5. Electricity charges : Rs. 1200/-6. Marketing expenses Rs. 80 / kg : Rs. 1,440/-7. Total cost of production / year (33,940 + 10,872.00) : Rs. 44,812/-

c. Cost and returns1. Variable cost Rs. / year : Rs. 33,940/2. Fixed cost Rs. / year : Rs. 10,872/-3. Total cost Rs. / year : Rs. 44,812/-4. Yield kg / year : Rs. 1,800/-5. Cost of production / kg : Rs. 27.506. Market price / kg : Rs. 75/-7. Gross income Rs. / year : Rs. 1,35,000/-8. Profit / year (Rs., 1,35,,000 – 44,812.00) : Rs. 90,188/-9. Profit / kg : Rs. 47.5010. B:C ratio 2:1

KVK, Virudhunagar for gaining recent knowledgeon mushroom production. About forty three percent (40%) of the respondents were having highextension contact with KVK scientists andofficials of Department of Agriculture. About onethird (32%) were having medium level ofextension contact while one fourth (28%) werehaving low extension contact with the experts.There is need to improve the contact with expertsfor enhancing the profitability in mushroomproduction.

Economics of Mushroom ProductionMajor expenditure was initial cost on the

erection of mushroom shed, sprayer, irrigationpipes, straw cutting machine, ultra lamp and autoclave. While calculating cost, all fixed and variablecosts were included in the study. Mushroomproducers got income from sale of mushroom. Themode of marketing is mainly direct sale in the unititself, door delivery, sales at Collectorate and otherGovernment quarters of Virudhunagar and atUzhavar Sandhai as 100 g and 200 g packet at acost of Rs.10 and Rs.20 respectively. The fixed


Empowerment of Self Help Group Members

26

and variable costs as well as gross and net returnsof different respondents were arrived based onthe information collected from individual trainee.The cost and benefit per unit was calculated andtabulated in Table 2.

It is inferred that total cost for mushroomproduction per unit was Rs. 44,823/- and grossincome was Rs. 1,35,000/-. Hence eachrespondent might get Rs. 90,000/- as net incomefrom their own unit in every year. The B:C ratio(2:1) shows that mushroom production will doublethe income.

CONCLUSIONThe socio-economic status of the members of

SHGs can be improved by differententrepreneurship development programmes likevocational trainings. The majority of women werein young age group, it is a good sign forgenerating self employment for rural women. Theneed is to select the trainees on basis of theirresources and interest. Due to low expenditurerequirement and high income, mushroom

production can be adopted by small marginal andeven landless women farmers. The respondentsstated that the income and expenditure of themushroom production was shared by the membersof the SHGs. The Vocational training onmushroom cultivation was empowered themeconomically and paved way to get regularincome, job opportunity, increased farm and homeincome. This facilitates them to admit theirchildren in better schools, higher studies andenabled them to provide nutritional food. Themushroom cultivation technique keeps the familymembers to be active and cheerful.

REFERENCESMishra S (2008). Entrepreneurship development for farm women

through mushroom cultivation. Oryza 45 (1): 68- 71.

Rachna, Goel R and Sodhi G P S (2013). Evaluation of VocationalTraining Programmes organized on Mushroom Farming byKrishi Vigyan Kendra Patiala. J Krishi Vigyan 2(1): 26-29.

Sharma K and Dhaliwal N S (2014). Socio Economic Profile ofSuccessful Beekeepers and Profitability of Bee Keeping inMuktsar District of Punjab. J Krishi Vigyan 2(2): 69-73.



Muthuramu et al

27

Empowerment of Women Through Jasmine(Jasminum sambac) Cultivation

Sharmila Bharathi C, B Mohan, S Alagudurai, R Sangeetha, G Gohila andK Paneerselvam

Krishi Vigyan KendraVeterinary College and Research Institute Campus,

Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University,Namakkal – 637 002 (Tamil Nadu)

ABSTRACTKrishi Vigyan Kendra, Namakkal popularized jasmine (Jasminum sambac) cultivation. Forthis,7,660 three months old rooted cuttings of jasmine variety Ramanathapuram Gundu malligaiwas supplied to twelve farm women covering an area of 1.66 ha. as a sustainable livelihoodincome generating activity to mitigate poverty. Jasmine being a hardy crop withstood drought,long dry spells and survived to yield flowers throughout the year and was a perennial source ofincome (average profit Rs.40000/ 0.08 ha. / year) that helped sustaining interest of the farmwomen. The income from jasmine cultivation improved the quality of life, mainly health of thefarm family and also helped them to build their asset base by repairing of home and vehiclesetc.

Key Words: Women empowerment, Jasmine cultivation, Income, Livelihood security.

Corresponding Author’s Email: [email protected] ; [email protected]

INTRODUCTIONJasmine (Jasminum sambac) is one of the

leading traditional flowers of India. Jasmine isgrown in various climatic regions and soils acrossIndia. Flowers are used for making garlands,adorning hairs of women in religious andceremonial functions and for producing jasmineoil for perfume manufacture (Thakur et al, 2014).Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) popularized thejasmine (Jasminum sambac ) varietyRamanathapuram Gundu malligai, which has beenrecommended for cultivation under droughtcondition in Vadavathur and Jambumadai villagesof Namakkal district.

Jasmine cultivation has emerged as analternative source of livelihood for small andmarginal farm women. Income for these farmwomen, who were entirely dependent onagriculture, was very low because of dwindlingnatural resources and erratic weather condition.Jasmine cultivation was adopted because ofvarious advantages associated with it, such as lessseed capital requirement since it was a small-scale

cultivation, it generated sustainable incomecompared to other farming due to easymanagement practices .

The objective of the study was to examine theimpact of jasmine cultivation by farm women inmitigating poverty. The intervention consisted offive components viz., promoting jasminecultivation through supply of rooted jasminecuttings, foliar spray of micronutrients, properpruning practices, drip irrigation and marketingof flowers.

MATERIALS AND METHODSDuring the year 2011, KVK supplied 7,660

three months old rooted cuttings of jasmine varietyRamanathapuram Gundu malligai to twelve farmwomen covering an area of 1.66 ha. The soil typewas red sandy loam with a pH of 7.6 and EC of0.036 dSm-1 with a fertility status of low Nitrogen(251kg/ha), medium Phosphorus (12.5 kg / ha)and medium Potassium (196 kg / ha). Jasminerooted cuttings were planted at a spacing of 5 x 5ft in 1 cu ft pit size. Decomposed farm yard


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00031.8

28

manure @ 1 kg was applied as basal at the timeof planting. Irrigation was given at the time ofplanting and three days after planting. Thereafterirrigation was given once in a month.

Pruning was done one year after planting.The bushes were pruned to 50 cm height fromthe ground level during last week of Novemberby 10 farm women. Two Farm women have donestaggered pruning at monthly intervals startedfrom October. Manuring @ 200 g of 17:17:17complex fertilizer was done at 6 months interval.Foliar spray of ferrous sulphate @ 5 g /l andborax @ 3 g /l of water was given at monthlyintervals to correct the iron deficiency in leaves(Chlorotic symptoms) and boron deficiency in bud(Pink bud). Low cost drip irrigation (withoutenergy for discharge of water) was installed inone farm women land as a model unit with a waterholding capacity of 1,000 lt. Drip irrigation wasdone at every eight days intervals during summerand peak flowering period. For discharge of 1,000l of water, 15 minutes was required for irrigating0.08 ha. area consisting of 210 plants. Totally8,000 l of water was required per irrigation. Thenneed based plant protection measures were carriedout uniformly against pest (Profenofos 50 EC @1 ml/ l of water + 0.5 ml teepol as wetting agent /l of water against bud worm ) during the periodof crop growth as recommended by TNAU(Anonymous, 2013).

WEATHER AND CLIMATEDuring the study period, 405.4 mm of rainfall

was received in 31 rainy days in 2011, 469.6 mm

in 30 days in 2012, 639 mm in 24 days in 2013and 689.5 mm of rainfall was received in 33 rainydays in 2014. Maximum monthly meantemperature was 38.5oC and minimum was21.0oC. Maximum monthly mean relativehumidity was 84.8 per cent and minimum was47.8 per cent at 07.22 and 14.22 hr, respectively.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONIn Vadavathur village, Jasmine plants started

flowering at 4 months after planting (Table 1) butcommercial flowering was started two years afterplanting. From second year onwards, beneficiariesharvested an average of 100 g of unopened flowerbuds / plant for a period of seven months. Eachflower cluster consisted of nine buds with 2.8 – 3cm of bud length, 1.1 – 1.3 cm of diameter and50 g of flower contained 160 flower buds. Thepeak flowering season was April – June and leanperiod was October to January.

Jasmine variety Ramanathapuram Gundumalligai withstood high temperature(30.7 – 42.40 C) as well as drought and yieldedmaximum (21.2 – 103. 6 kg) during the month ofApril – June (Fig 1) and fetched good marketprice. Similar result was also reported by Kailas(2012). In peak flowering period, plants receivedonly 48 mm rainfall during 2013 and 288 mmduring 2014 respectively (Fig 2). Staggeredpruning induced flowering during the rainyseason. Hence, the farm women got better returnsthroughout the year (Rs.59, 814 to 82,000 peryear) with minimum area (0.08 ha.) of cultivation.

Table 1. Vegetative and floral characters of one year old Jasmine plants.

Sr. No. Parameter Observation

1. Number of months taken for first flowering 4 months after planting2. Plant height (cm) 27.9 - 41 cm3. Number of primary branches 3- 44. Number of secondary branches 8-105. Number of flower cluster / branch 276. Number of buds/cluster 97. Number of flowers / 50 g 1608. Bud length including corolla (cm) 2.8 – 3 cm9. Corolla length (cm) 1.4 – 2 cm10. Diameter of the bud 1.1 – 1.3 cm11. Peak season of flowering April - June12. Lean period October - January


Bharathi et al

29

Fig 2. Yield response of Jasmine with respect to hightemperature and rainfall.

Fig.1.Yield response of Jasmine with respect tomaximum temperature

Table 2. Flower yield / 0.08 ha. from July 2012- November 2014 .

S.No Year Month Flower yield Sales amount Debit amount Net sales(kgs) (Rs) (Bus fare and amount (Rs.)

marketingexpenses @ 10%

in total salesamount (Rs.)

1 2012 July 2012 1.350 186 19 1672 August 2012 7.750 1447 145 13023 September 2012 8.300 1325 132 11934 October 2012 6.500 1603 160 1443

Total 23.9 4561 456 41055 2013 January 2013 3.700 1292 129 11636 February 2013 6.650 1734 173 15617 March 2013 21.2 2928 292 26368 April 2013 59 5582 558 50249 May 2013 52.3 5897 589 530810 June 2013 70.6 8452 845 760711 July 2013 51.3 9466 947 851912 August 2013 5.75 1557 156 140113 September 2013 8.500 2598 260 233814 October 2013 12.500 5016 664 435215 November 2013 4.550 1750 175 1575

Total 296.05 46272 4788 4148416 2014 January 2014 1.900 1414 141 127317 February 2014 6.650 1738 174 156418 March 2014 91.25 14441 1444 1299719 April 2014 119 15691 1569 1412220 May 2014 103.55 12119 1212 1090721 June 2014 33.75 4848 485 436322 July 2014 30.05 4381 438 394323 August 2014 8.35 2167 217 195024 September 2014 12.5 2241 224 201725 October 2014 6.7 1392 139 125326 November 2014 6.4 3763 376 3387

Total 420.1 64195 6419 57776Grand Total 710 115028 11663 103365


Empowerment of Women Through Jasmine

30

MARKETING OF JAMINE FLOWERSThe twelve farm women involved in jasmine

cultivation sold the flowers at flower auction centrelocated in Namakkal flower market. The flowermerchants maintained individual account for eachfarm women and wherein the quantity of flowersold, price prevailed in the market and commissiontowards transport and local middle man for

Fig.3.Yield and Marketing of Jasmine flower in 20 cent area

carrying flowers from bus stand to auction centrewere recorded. The flower rates in the marketvaried daily on the basis of demand and supply(Table 3). The farm women were paid on amonthly basis after deducting the expenditureincurred on marketing. Each member spent 10 percent of the sale price towards transport andmarketing. The price of one kg flower bud ofJasminum Sambac ranged between Rs.100 – 300/- till July. Thereafter, the price of one kg ofJasmine flower fetched around Rs.700/-. Similarhigher price was also reported by Ambika (2012).It touched Rs.2000/- per kg during October endto January (Fig 3).

For the past three years, the farm women haveearned more than Rs.40,000/- from selling jasmineflower per year. Not only this money helped toimprove the quality of life, education and health ofthe farm family but also helped them build their assetbase by repairing of their house / vehicles (Table 3).


Bharathi et al

Jasmine in full bloom stage Farmer Lady

Pruning in Jasmine Newly emerged leaves at two months after pruning.

31J Krishi Vigyan 2015, 3(Special Issue) : 27-31

Empowerment of Women Through Jasmine

Table 3 . Expenditure incurred from Jasmine cultivation of two farm women.

Sr. No. Details ParticularsMrs.R.Pappathi Mrs.R.PadmaW/o P.Ramalingam w/oP.Radhakrishnan

1. Area under Jasmine cultivation 200 plants/ 0.08 ha 500 plants / 0.2 ha2. Total family members 7 63. Average monthly income Rs. 5867/- Rs. 8292/-4. Annual income Rs. 59,814/- Rs. 82,000/-5. Crop cultivation Expenditure / Yr Rs.15000/- Rs.17,500/-6. Food / Yr Rs.23000/- Rs.25,200/-7. Dresses / Yr Rs.6000/- Rs.6000/-8. Education / Yr Rs.3600/- Rs.32,000/-9. Medical expenses/ Yr Rs. 2400/- Rs. 3800/-10. Transport / Yr Rs.3000/- Rs.6000/-11. Savings / Yr Rs.7000/- Rs.10000/-

CONCLUSIONAll the farm women practiced jasmine

cultivation opined that jasmine cultivation is moreprofitable as flower merchants from local marketsmake arrangements for the daily procurement. Theprice fluctuation is heavy and it ranges fromRs.100/- to Rs.2000/-kg depending upon theproduction and market demand. This gives dailyincome for about nine months a year and inaddition to effective utilization of time andresources. The present study revealed that theinterventions made by KVK, Namakkal atVadavathur village on jasmine cultivation haveempowered women farmers of Vadavathur village,Namakkal District, through technological literacyas well as income generation.

REFERENCESAnonymous ( 2013). Crop production techniques of Horticultural

crops. Horticultural College and Research Institute. Tamil NaduAgricultural University, Coimbatore.

Ambika T( 2012). Jasmine: Fit for small growers. Market Survey:19-20.

Kailas Andhale( 2012). Collective marketing for better incomethrough floriculture. Leisa India 14 (3): 15 -17.

Thakur, A , Naqvi S M A, Aske D K and Sainkhediya ( 2014).Study of some ethno medicinal plants used by tribals ofAlirajpur, Madhya Pradesh India. Res J Agriculture andForestry Sci 2 (4): 9-12.


32

Ensuring Better Natural Resource ManagementThrough Gender Mainstreaming

Amarinder KaurHaryana Forest Department, Panchkula 134 102 ( Haryana)

ABSTRACTWith a view to bring women in mainstream of life and involve them in the forest and environmentconservation, Forest Department, Haryana initiated women development programme withimplementation of European Union aided Haryana Community Forestry Project in the Statefrom 1999-2008. Self Help Groups (SHGs) were constituted for women and the success achievedin this direction as a result of right approach, led to believe that the participation of women invarious development activities strengthen the programme and hence the need forinstitutionalizing this in the regular working of forest department in the state. Accordingly,SHGs were constituted under Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) project as well.SHGs constituted by Haryana Forest Department were evaluated in seventeen districts of Haryanastate of India and while carrying out the evaluation on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)of United Nations were also kept in view. It was found that on all these parameters, the womenin SHG villages performed better than the non-SHG villages.

Key Words: Women, Forest, Environmental conservation, Self help group.

Corresponding Author’s Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

INTRODUCTIONWomen in India roughly constitute about half

of Indian population. They work from dawn todusk but largely remained “unsung heroines” dueto cultural and social reasons. Most Indian ruralwomen are unorganized and have no commonplatform to voice their feelings and problems thatthey face in their lives. Their access to informationabout ongoing development schemes are marginaland hence play a peripheral role in decision -making activities, which directly impinge on theirrequirements and aspirations. The desire forreducing their daily drudgery in collecting fuelwood, fodder, etc. through participation inmanaging common property resources, especiallywhere plantations have been raised, are subduedby the male members, as the priorities of males,which generally are at variance with those offemales, usually prevail in the final decision.

The role of women in environment, forest andbiodiversity conservation has been recognizedand accordingly, Haryana Forest Department(HFD) has made efforts to ensure participation ofwomen in all its programmes and schemes.Gender and Development (GAD) mainstreaming

is the main strategy of the government in movingforward for gender equality in the Haryana State.For this purpose, HFD has chosen the route ofsocial and economic upliftment for theirparticipation in forest and environmentconservation. As regards the economicempowerment of women, HFD has constitutedSelf Help Groups (SHGs) for them. In Haryana,after certain amount of collection of money bythe women, HFD provides matching financialgrant. Thereafter, the SHG women assisted by thewomen development experts decide the incomegeneration activities (IGAs) to be undertaken bythem and accordingly, the SHG women are trainedfree of cost for that IGA. HFD also facilitates themin learning marketing skills for selling theirproducts. The micro-credit given to SHG womenmakes them enterprising. However, it has beenthe experience in India that women’s groupsperform better in all the important activities ofSHGs (Reddy, 2008). HFD till March, 2014 hasconstituted 2200 SHGs in 900 villages. This workis primarily looked after by WomenEmpowerment Cell (WEC) of the department andas a result people are regularly getting benefitted(Anonymous, 2013).


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00032.X

33

In view of the increasing need to ensuring theparticipation of women in environment, forest andbiodiversity conservation, WEC under HFD hastrained and nourished SHGs to ultimately achievethe objectives of Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) of UN. There are eight internationaldevelopment goals that were officially establishedfollowing the Millennium Summit of the UnitedNations in 2000, following the adoption of theUnited Nations Millennium Declaration. All 189United Nations member states and at least 23international organizations have agreed to achievethese goals by the year 2015 and India is part ofit. Accordingly, it was decided to evaluate theperformance of the SHGs constituted by HFD withthe objective to eradicating extreme poverty andhunger; achieving universal primary education;promoting gender equality and empoweringwomen; reducing child mortality rates; improvingmaternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malariaand other diseases; ensuring environmentalsustainability and develop a global partnership fordevelopment.

MATERIALS AND METHODSA total of 340 women were selected from

seventeen districts of Haryana state. Out of them170 (one hundred and seventy) were selected from

the villages not engaged in SHG activities andanother 170 women where the SHG have beenconstituted by HFD and women are activelyengaged in IGA activities. Accordingly, tenwomen were interviewed from each district tomeet the objectives of the study.

A set of questions was prepared and thesequestions were kept common for SHG and nonSHG women. The answers to these questions wererecorded for each woman. The parameters for thequestions include the social status of the women,their capabilities related to village development,development of leadership qualities in them, theirunderstanding of environment conservation alongwith their health and general welfare status.

Table 1. The parameter wise responses and the percentages of women of SHG and non-SHG

Parameters Self help group Non-self help group Count Per cent Count Per cent

Social Low 12 7.1 140 44.7Average 83 48.8 28 32.6High 75 44.1 2 22.6

Village development Low 93 54.7 154 72.6Average 63 37.1 11 21.8High 14 8.2 5 5.6

Leadership Low 59 34.7 156 63.2Average 48 28.2 13 17.9High 63 37.1 1 18.8

Environment Low 54 31.8 164 64.1Average 63 37.1 6 20.3High 53 31.2 0 15.6

Health Low 4 2.4 55 17.4Average 34 20.0 103 40.3High 132 77.6 12 42.4

Welfare Low 82 48.2 166 72.9Average 74 43.5 4 22.9High 14 8.2 0 4.1

Fig 1.Combined mean of responses across sevenparameters


Kaur

34

Table 2(a). Comparison in Social parameters between self help and non-self help groups.

Social Parameters Level Self help group Non-self help groupCount Per cent Count Per cent

Aware Individual Low 26 15.3 117 68.8Average 76 44.7 46 27.1High 68 40.0 7 4.1

Status in family Low 9 5.3 78 45.9Average 56 32.9 68 40.0High 105 61.8 24 14.1

Status in the village Low 52 30.6 142 83.5Average 82 48.2 23 13.5High 36 21.2 5 2.9

Persuade others for education of Low 47 27.6 145 85.3children and youth Average 65 32.2 25 14.7

High 58 34.1 0 0.0

Awareness regarding female foeticide Low 33 19.4 117 68.8Average 51 30.0 49 28.8High 86 50.6 4 2.4

Self-Awareness and persuading other Low 40 23.5 142 83.5women on rights of women Average 61 35.9 27 15.9

High 69 40.6 1 0.6

Motivate women towards new IGAs Low 54 31.8 161 94.7Average 51 30.0 7 4.1High 65 38.2 2 1.2

Capability to attain SHG objectives/goals Low 18 10.7 154 90.6Average 79 46.7 14 8.2High 72 42.6 2 1.2

Drive campaigns against social evils Low 53 31.2 162 95.3Average 64 37.6 6 3.5High 53 31.2 2 1.2

Contribution for curbing crimes Low 53 31.2 147 86.5against women Average 59 34.7 20 11.8

High 58 34.1 3 1.8

Helping in/supporting for upliftment Low 54 31.8 158 92.9of lower caste Average 56 32.9 10 5.9

High 60 35.3 2 1.2

Supporting widows, old and Low 63 37.1 160 94.1handicapped and divorced women Average 61 35.9 10 5.9

High 46 27.1 0 0.0

Agreement on no dowry Low 2 1.2 65 38.2Average 81 47.6 87 51.2High 87 51.2 18 10.6

Awareness on legal age for marriage Low 0 0.0 11 6.5Average 0 0.0 19 11.2High 170 100.0 140 82.4


Ensuring Better Natural Resource Management

35

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe combined mean of responses across six

parameters selected for evaluating the SHGs isgiven in Fig. 1. It can be seen that the means arehigher in case of the women belonging to SHGacross the state, which shows the improvement inthe status and capabilities of the SHG women thanthe non-SHG women. SHG women are far aheadof the non-SHG women in each parameter.

The responses (capabilities) were measuredon a scale of 0 to 10 (0 to 3 low, 4 to 6 averageand 7 to 10 high). The parameter wise responsesand the percentages of women falling in each scaleare given below in table 1. The women associatedwith a SHG have a relatively better social statusas compared to non-SHG. 92.9 per cent of thewomen of the SHG belonged to average and highcategory, whereas only 17.7 per cent of thewomen non belonging to any SHG were in thecategory of average to high social status. Similarly,SHG and non-SHG women when compared on

other parameters of the study, the SHG womanhad substantially higher capabilities.

The capabilities of the women were comparedwith respect to individual variable on fourimportant parameters i.e., social, health, educationand environment. The results are presented table2(a-d) clearly evinced that the SHG women arefar ahead of the non-SHG women in all theparameters.

Awareness of Health Aspects of SHG womenSHG women in association with the health

department, organized health camps in thevillages. They also work as Asha workers in thevillage and help village women to avail the healthfacilities. SHG women drive campaigns regardingcleanliness in the village through their workingsas Aanganwadi and Asha workers. The SHGwomen also distribute folic acid tablets and alsoassist in the vaccination campaigns. They also helpthe village women to avail the ambulance facility

Table 2 (b). Comparison in environmental parameters between self help and non-self help groups.

Environmental parameters Level Self help group Non-self help groupCount Per cent Count Per cent

Awareness regarding deforestation Low 20 11.8 133 78.2Average 52 30.6 25 14.7High 98 57.6 12 7.1

Awareness of self and to others regarding Low 72 42.6 164 96.5organic fertilizer Average 45 26.6 5 2.9

High 52 30.8 1 0.6

Prohibit use of plastic bags Low 44 25.9 140 82.4Average 81 47.6 26 15.3High 45 26.5 4 2.4

Adopt organic farming Low 96 57.1 165 97.1Average 39 23.2 5 2.9High 33 19.6 0 0.0

Energy conservation awareness Low 45 26.5 139 81.8Average 88 51.8 28 16.5High 37 21.8 3 1.8

Biodiversity conservation awareness Low 76 44.7 154 90.6Average 75 44.1 11 6.5High 19 11.2 5 2.9

Information on plantation on Panchayat land Low 45 26.5 142 83.5Average 51 30.0 28 16.5High 74 43.5 0 0.0

Plantation on owned land Low 43 25.3 125 73.5Average 52 30.6 45 26.5High 75 44.1 0 0.0


Kaur

36

Table 2(c). Comparison in health parameters between self help and non-self help groups.

Health Parameters Capability Self help group Non-self help groupCount Per cent Count Per cent

Awareness regarding family planning Low 2 1.2 60 35.3Average 31 18.2 914 53.5High 137 80.6 19 11.2

Awareness related to health of women Low 17 10.0 92 54.1Average 38 22.4 63 37.1High 115 67.6 15 8.8

Awareness on health of pregnant women and Low 17 10.0 64 37.6available government facilities Average 31 18.2 92 54.1

High 122 71.8 14 8.2

from the village primary health centre. SHGwomen with the active support of the healthdepartment also organize blood donation camps.

This parameter was judged on a scale of 0 to10 on the statements of thought process related todevelopment of income generation activities(IGAs); independence to spend own generatedincome, and status of loan from money lenders

The data (Table 2c) reveals that the SHGwomen exceed far ahead the non-SHG womenon all capabilities. As regards the financialfreedom, the improved economic status of SHGwomen gives majority of them (76.3%), theindependence to spend their own income. Theyalso have a better understanding of the IGAs andare initiators of new and innovative activities toenhance the income.

Status of education of children of SHG womenThis parameter also gathered information on

the status of education of their children. It wasdivided into male and girl child. The information

was presented in Table 4. Proportion of educationlevel in the single child was appreciable but withincrease number of children (male as well asfemale), the education status declined, however,rate of decline was more sharp in girls than inboys. Similarly, percentage of higher educationwas substantially very low in both the groupsirrespective of number of children.

Development of leadership qualitiesThis information generated in regards to

leadership qualities have been depicted in theTable 5. The data shows that there is betterdevelopment of leadership qualities in SHGwomen than the non SHG women.

Village level developmentThe data on village development has been

depicted in Fig.2. It can be observed that thevillage level development capability of the SHGwomen are relatively higher except that they needfurther motivation to contest in gram panchayatand block level elections to address the gender

Table 2 (d). Comparison in financial status between self help and non-self help groups.

Financial status Level Self help group Non-self help groupCount Per cent Count Per cent

Thought process related to development Low 43 25.3 138 81.2of IGAs Average 58 34.1 29 17.1

High 69 40.6 3 1.8

Independence to spend own income Low 15 8.9 69 40.6Average 25 14.8 75 44.1High 129 76.3 26 15.3

Status of loan from money lenders Low 138 81.2 166 97.6Average 5 2.9 3 1.8High 27 15.9 1 0.6



37

Table 4. Status of education of children of SHG women.

Children Child 1 Child 2 Child 3education SHG Non-SHG SHG Non-SHG SHG Non-SHG

Count Per Count Per Count Per Count Per Count Per Count Percent cent cent cent cent cent

Male childPrimary 93 54.7 95 55.9 19 11.2 29 17.1 6 3.5 6 3.5Secondary 29 17.1 29 17.1 10 5.9 7 4.1 1 0.6 1 0.6Graduation 28 16.5 21 12.4 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0Post-graduation 7 4.1 3 1.8 0 0.0 3 1.8 0 0.0 0 0.0Uneducated 13 7.6 22 12.9 141 82.9 131 77.1 163 95.9 163 95.9

Female childPrimary 73 42.9 76 44.7 8 4.7 13 7.6 2 1.2 5 2.9Secondary 27 15.9 26 15.3 2 1.2 2 1.2 1 0.6 0 0.0Graduation 26 15.3 11 6.5 2 1.2 1 0.6 1 0.6 1 0.6Post-graduation 8 4.7 1 0.6 2 1.2 2 1.2 0 0.0 1 0.6Uneducated 36 21.2 56 32.9 156 91.8 152 89.4 166 97.6 163 95.9

issues, which usually remain neglected withouttheir representation. The capabilities of Non-SHGwomen related to the village level developmentare relatively very poor.

This can further be associated with theirleadership qualities. SHG women are relativelybetter leader and prove efficient in resolving socialand family issues; forming and guiding new SHGs;Guiding women towards financial independenceand dealing with banks and gram associations.This also reflects their inter-personal skills as suchthings are managed by co-ordination, co-operationand effective communication.

Parameters against literacyThese parameters have been depicted in Fig.3,

which indicate that the literacy parameter in SHG

Fig. 2. Village level development

villages is higher than the non-SHG villages. Even,with in self help group the literate women hasmore awareness for different parameters i.e. villagedevelopment, leadership quality, health, welfare,etc. Comparatively non-self help group lackedbehind due to their interaction with in the samegroup thus there seems less improvement. Veryinteresting information from the figure 3 emergesthat the illiterate SHG has higher values thanliterate, whereas, the trend was reverse in Non-SHG where literate has higher values than illiterate.It proves that the attitude of illiterate women canchange with their involvement and awareness.Sundram (2012) also concluded that irrespectiveof education level, the women exposed to newenvironment adapt and learn more. Reducing thegender gap in access to productive assets, inputsand services in the forestry sector can help createsignificant development opportunities, not just forsustainable forest management but also for theoverall welfare of families, communities andnational economies. Studies by Agarwal (2010),Sun et al (2011) and Coleman and Mwangi (2013)suggest that if women constitute one-quarter toone-third of the membership of local forestmanagement institutions, the dynamics change infavour of the consideration of women’s use of andaccess to forest resources and also towards moreeffective community forest management decision-making and management as a whole.


Kaur

38

CONCLUSIONIn view of the limited number of jobs in govt.

sector and prevailing unemployment problems inIndia, self help or self employment is the bestapproach for achieving financial freedom anduplifting the social status of women in Indiansociety. Concept of women participation inenvironment, forest and biodiversity conservationhas been given practical shape through formationof SHGs in Haryana Forest Department of India.As a result of right approach, right training andconstant follow up, women have become capable

Table 5. Development of leadership qualities between self help and non self help group.

Leadership quality Capability Self help group Non-self help groupCount Per cent Count Per cent

Campaigning for improvements in school, Low 58 34.1 143 84.1aanganwadi and other gram associations Average 57 33.5 25 14.7

High 55 32.4 2 1.2

To resolve village/gram problems / issues in Low 64 39.4 141 82.9coordination with Panchayat Average 44 25.9 22 12.9

High 59 34.7 7 4.1

To resolve social and family related issues Low 44 25.9 146 85.9Average 51 30.0 20 11.8High 75 44.1 4 2.4

To approach the concerned authority for Low 76 44.7 156 91.8development and cleanliness aspects Average 39 22.9 12 7.1

High 55 32.4 2 1.2

To form and guide new SHGs Low 54 31.8 159 93.5Average 67 39.4 10 5.9High 49 28.8 1 0.6

To guide the women towards Low 59 34.7 157 92.4financial independence Average 54 31.8 13 7.6

High 57 33.5 0 0.0

To deal with banks, gram associations etc. Low 34 20.0 148 87.1 through SHGs Average 68 40.0 20 11.8

High 68 40.0 2 1.2

Fig.3. Parameters against literacy

enough to realize their strengths, importance oftheir role in their families in particular and societyin general. This study has revealed that constantfollow up of SHGs can help achieve MillionDevelopment Goals set by the United Nations. Thepresent study has clearly indicated the impact ofchange among women in SHG villages than inthe non-SHG villages.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe author sincerely thanks Haryana Forest

Department, Govt. of Haryana for providinghuman resource and material support forconducting the study. Thanks are due to entirestaff of Women Empowerment Cell of HaryanaForest Department for sincerely taking up thecause of gender mainstreaming and maintainingconstant dialogues with SHG women.

REFERENCESAgarwal B (2010). Does women’s proportional strength affect

their participation? governing local forests in South Asia. WorldDevelopment 38 (1): 98-112.

Anonymous (2013). Women Empowerment Cell, ForestDepartment, Haryana, Van Bhawan, Sector-6, Panchkula.



39

Coleman E and Mwangi E (2013). Women’s participation inforest management: a cross country analysis. GlobalEnvironmental Change 23(1): 193-205.

Reddy Annupalle (2008). Self-Help Groups in India - A catalystfor women economic empowerment and poverty eradication.33 EME Conference Mondiale Du cias, tours France. 30 Juin- 4 Juillet 2008. 33rd Global Conference of ICSW, France,June 30th - July 4th 2008.

Sun Y, Mwangi E and Meinzen-Dick R (2011). Is gender animportant factor influencing user group’s property rights andforestry governance? Empirical analysis from East Africa andLatin America. International Forestry Review 13(2): 205-219.

Sundram A (2012). Impact of Self-help Group in Socio-economicdevelopment of India. IOSR Journal of Humanities and SocialScience 5(1):20-27



Kaur

40


Farm Women Empowerment Through CommodityGroup Approach

Noorjehan A K A Hanif and V KrishnamoorthiICAR Krishi Vigyan Kendra

Vamban colony, Pudukkottai -622 303 ( Tamil Nadu)

ABSTRACTIn Tamil Nadu, the Pudukkottai district is known for pulse production especially blackgram.

A special Front Line Demonstration programme “Blackgram cultivation through commoditygroup approach” had been sanctioned to Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Pudukkottai during 2013 –2014. With consistent efforts of KVK through focus group discussions, meetings with farmersand other stake holders, five blackgram commodity groups with 20 members per group wereevolved. All the groups opened joint savings accounts in their group names in nationalizedbanks in Alangudi taluk of the district. Among these, four commodity groups were purelywomen led with farm women as members. All the farmers and farm women gained knowledgethrough on campus and off campus trainings both in cultivation and marketing. They were ableto sell the seeds in bulk at higher rate of Rs. 55 / Kg compared to individual sale of Rs. 40/- perkg thereby an increase of 37.5 percent income raise in enhancing all the members’ livingstandards. The transportation cost and middlemen cost also got reduced in marketing of theproduce.

Key Words: Women empowerment, Commodity group, blackgram cultivation, agriculturalmarketing

INTRODUCTIONEmpowerment is a multi-dimensional social

process that helps people gain control over theirown lives. Women empowerment generally refersto the process by which women enhances theirpower to take control over decisions that shapetheir lives, including in relation to access toresources, participation in decision making andcontrol over distribution of benefits. Women’sempowerment has five components: women’ssense of self-worth; their right to have and todetermine choices; their right to have access toopportunities and resources; their right to havethe power to control their own lives, both withinand outside the home; and their ability to influencethe direction of social change to create a morejust social and economic order, nationally andinternationally (UNPOPIN, 2010).

Broadly speaking, there are three types ofwomen empowerment:• Economic empowerment: Women are

economically empowered when they are

supported to engage in a productive activitythat allows them some degree of autonomy.This type of empowerment is also concernedwith the quality of their economicinvolvement, beyond their presence as poorlypaid workers.

• Social empowerment: This is a process ofacquiring information, knowledge and skillsand supporting participation of women insocial organizations without any genderdiscrimination in day-to-day activities. It isalso concerned with inculcating a feeling ofequality instead of subordination amongwomen.

• Political empowerment: It is concerned withenhancing the power of voice and collectiveaction by women. Besides, it ensures equitablerepresentation of women in decision-makingstructures, both formal and informal, andstrengthens their voice in the formulation ofpolicies affecting their societies. (Scrutton andCecilia, 2007)


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00033.1

41

Farmers Organizations (FOs) are groups ofrural producers coming together based on theprinciple of membership to pursue specificcommon interests of their members anddeveloping technical and economic activities thatbenefit their members and maintaining relationswith partners operating in their economic andinstitutional environment. Farmers’ Organizations(FOs) are essential institutions for theempowerment, poverty alleviation andadvancement of farmers and the rural poor (FAO,2006).

Types of Farmers Organizations (FOs)Community Based and Resource-OrientatedOrganization: This type could be a village levelcooperative or association dealing with inputsneeded by the members, the resource owners, toenhance the productivity of their businesses basedon land, water, or animals.

Commodity-Based, Market- orientated FarmerOrganizations These organizations specialize ina single commodity and opt for value-addedproducts, which have expanded markets. They aredesignated as output-dominated organizations.Not specific to any single community.

The significant goal of establishing commoditygroups is to create groups for each of the cropscultivated in their area and marketing the producecollectively. The basic difference betweencommodity groups and self – help groups (SHG)is that the SHG members contribute their share interms of work and small savings which is rotatedamong the group members in need as loan andcontribute in their welfare activities whereincommodity groups member (minimum 20numbers) join the group to acquire technicalknowledge on latest crop production andprotection technologies and sharing among themembers for their overall betterment.

MATERIALS AND METHODSBlackgram cultivation through commodity

group approach was sanctioned as a specialprogramme to Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Pudukkottaifor implementation during the year 2013–2014.To create awareness on commodity groupsformation and its significance, selectedprogressive farmers of the district were taken onexposure visit to KVK, Tiruvarur to participate inthe workshop on commodity groups andexperienced a significant knowledge sharing anddoubts clarified. Under the special programme,off campus trainings and group meetings wereconducted during June-August 2013 in the villagesof Vadakadu, Kulamangalam north andKurunthadimanai of Thiruvarankulam block ofPudukkottai district. The farmers were motivatedconstantly and as a result four progressive farmers(one male and three female) came forward to formblackgram commodity groups. With consistentefforts through activities of KVK, following fiveblackgram commodity groups were evolved(Table 1) who started joint savings accounts inbanks (in their group names) in the Alangudi talukof the district.

All the members of the five groups (100members @ 20 members / group) were providedwith inputs like Blackgram seed of variety VBN6 @ 4kg / member and 200g Rhizobium packetsfor seed treatment. The crop was sown by all themembers during October - November 2013. Forthe benefit of farmers, seed treatment and tractor- drawn seed drill sowing were demonstrated tothem in their villages. Knowledge on varioustechnologies in Blackgram cultivation wasimparted to the group members through on-campus and off-campus trainings anddemonstrations. A questionnaire was developedto know the effect of this commodity groupapproach followed by the KVK in order toempower the women farmers in the district.

Table 1. List of Blackgram commodity groups established.

Sr. No. Name of the Blackgram Commodity group Village Group leader1. Vizhuthugal Blackgram commodity group Koottampunjai Woman2. Blackgram commodity group Kulamangalam north Man3. Magarantham blackgram commodity marketing group Pallathuviduthi Woman4. Malarum pookkal blackgram Commodity marketing group Santhanpatti Woman5. Ulundu Commodity marketing group Kurunthadimanai Woman


Hanif and Krishnamoorthi

42

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONGain in knowledge and adoption level

The knowledge gained and adoption percentageas observed among the Blackgram commoditygroup members were given in table 2.

In the study area, the farmers were using oldvarieties of Blackgram namely VBN 3 and VBN5 which were susceptible to yellow mosaic virus(YMV). Introduction of YMV resistant variety i.e.,VBN 6 and its cultivation highly satisfied thegroup members. It was noted that more thanthree-fourth of the commodity group membersadopted only hand sowing of blackgram and only10 members adopted seed drill sowing due to thereason, fear of failure of crop and low risk bearingcapacity of the group members.

The group members had good knowledgegain in other cultivation aspects of blackgram viz.,seed treatment with bio fertilizers and pesticides,weed management techniques, fertilizerapplication, post harvest technologies, valueaddition and seed production techniques but thepercentage of adoption varied. The reason mightbe that this is a short duration crop and farmersexpect reasonable income from lessermanagement and investment.

It was important to note that four womenmembers turned into seed producers andsupplying the VBN 6 blackgram seeds to otherfarmers of their own district and nearby districtsof Thanjavur and Trichy. Farmers experiencedthat the variety VBN 6 blackgram was resistant toYMV, good growth, more number of pods andbold seeded.

Marketing linkage was created between theblackgram commodity groups and Department ofAgricultural Marketing and Agribusiness,

Table 2. Knowledge gain and adoption level of commodity group members on Blackgram cultivation technologies.

Sr. No Technology Gain in knowledge (%) Adoption level ( %)1. New Variety selection 100 1002. Seed treatment with bio fertilizers and pesticides 86 363. Weed management techniques 67 924. Seed drill sowing 80 105. Fertilizer application 95 876. Post harvest technologies 58 497. Value addition 49 118. Seed production techniques 89 04

Pudukkottai. For immediate procurement andpayment, linkage with Agricultural cooperativeMarketing society, Thirumayam has beenfacilitated for the group members. All the farmersin their respective groups sold the seeds in bulkat higher rate of Rs. 55 / kg compared to individualsale of Rs. 40/- per kg. This approach resulted inan increase of 37.5 per cent in the total income.

In addition, KVK facilitated interestedmembers of the commodity group to participatein the exposure visit to Regulated Markets,Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu and AMIABCin Tiruchirapalli district of Tamil Nadu and farmwomen felt satisfied in gaining knowledge, onagricultural produce marketing through variousways and means and storage structure facilitiesprovided by the state Government.

The indirect impact of this extension approachled to increase in area of cultivation of black gramin Pudukkottai district from 4,537 ha in 2012-2013to 6,752 ha in 2013-2014. The impact ofpopularization of this VBN 6 blackgram varietyled to 50 per cent increase in production andproductivity of blackgram cultivation in thedistrict. There is a constant demand for this varietyfrom farmers side both within and from nearbydistricts. Farmers from other blocks were interestedto come forward to form such commodity groupsand organize themselves as farmers’ producerorganization.

CONCLUSIONThe present study showed that all the farm

women (87) and farm men (13) members gainedknowledge on YMV resistant variety VBN 6,mechanization in blcakgram and seed productiontechniques. Adoption of YMV resistant varietyVBN 6 blackgram among all the members led to


Farm Women Empowerment

43

the popularization of the variety. The commoditygroup members sold their seeds in bulk at higherrate of Rs. 55 / Kg compared to individual sale ofRs. 40/- per kg. The public and private sectorsshould indentify the existing farmers associationsand support them to develop their organization.Government extension services and NGO staffneed to receive suitable training to act as groupfacilitators.

REFERENCESScrutton and Cecilia (2007), “The Definition and operationalisation

of empowerment in different development agencies”, ODI

paper, Empowerment Note 2, Inter co-operation, SwissAgency for Development and Co-operation.

United Nations Population Information Network (UNPOPIN)(2010), “Guidelines on Women’s Empowerment”, http://www.un.org/popin/unfpa/taskforce/guide/iatfwemp.gdl.html,Accessed January 2015

Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) (2006). Farmersorganizations / farmers associations in India, Education, Jan10, 2013. http://www.slideshare.net/facegopi/farmers-organizationsfarmers-associations-in-india, Accessed January2015



Hanif and Krishnamoorthi

44


Farmers Driven Value Chain of Kadali Banana: AGadget For Women Empowerment

R SendilkumarCollege of Cooperation Banking and Management

Kerala Agricultural University,Thrissur 680 656 (Kerala)

ABSTRACTEmpowerment is defined as a collective undertaking, involving both individual and collectiveaction. Hence, an attempt was made to study the empowerment dynamics of women farmers inthe value chain of kadali banana cultivation. Sixty women farmers who cultivated kadali bananaselected from Mattathur Panchayath of Thrissur district by applying simple random sampling.The dynamics of empowerment dimension was studied with the inclusion of knowledge,psychological, economical, social and political sub components and collected through wellstructured interview schedule and focus group discussion. Empowerment Dynamics Index(EDI) computed showed that 18 per cent increase in the overall empowerment dimension ofwomen gender.

Key Words: Empowerment dynamics, Value chain, Kadali banana.

INTRODUCTIONIt has been emphasized on strengthening and

motivating the farmers of the grass root level byinspiring them to think critically and take groupdecision and equal participation. Few institutionalinterventions in cultivation of agricultural cropsand marketing are recently attempted in Keralawith successful model. One such noted initiativereported was that intervention of the Labour Co-operative Society for Local Development andSocial Welfare Ltd. (LCS) in the Kadali bananacultivation and marketing to the largest consumer.This society directly collects the products fromthe farmers and supply to M/s GuruvayurDevaswom which requires 12,000 fruits/d. M/sMattathur Labour Co-operative Society has beenhired as an intermediary agency for procurementand transport of Kadali banana. Presently,However, the Labour Co-operative Society ispresently providing only 4,000 fruits per singletransaction at a fixed rate of Rs.3/fruit (approx.weighing 40g), which are procured from 120farmers inclusive women farmers of MattathurPanchayat. The farm women segment belongs toJoin liability group (JLG) recently inducted forKadali banana cultivation. They have encouragedfor taking agricultural loan from the LCS and

nearby cooperative bank for cultivating Kadalibanana even in the leased land in group farmingmode. It is conceived as challenge for the farmersand the LCS to meet the complete requirement ofthe demand with assured quantity and qualityprescribed. This raises serious research questionsthat how far the farmers empowered to take thetask of challenge, what dimension ofempowerment do they have and not? Hence, anattempt was made to study the empowermentdynamics of women farmers before and afterjoining as members in the farmer driven valuechain. A flow chart depicting the value chain ofKadali banana is given in fig.1

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe study was carried out with sixty women

farmers who cultivated Kadali banana selectedfrom Mattathur Panchayath of Thrissur district byapplying simple random sampling. Ex-postresearch design was followed to study theempowerment dimension, where as descriptiveresearch design used to analyze the value chainof Kadali banana as prescribed by IFAD M4 P(2008). The empowerment dynamics was studiedby considering the major components(knowledge, psychological, social, economic and


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00034.3

45

political empowerment) selected from the juryopinion. All the major components were measuredwith the help of identified subcomponents. Eachsubcomponent listed was measured against theidentified items, collected through the process ofreview of relevant literature, focused discussionwith the officials, experts experienced farmers andpeer groups. One score was given against eachitem and thus maximum and minimum score were5 and 1, respectively. The obtained score was thencategorized as highly empowered (4-5),empowered (3-4), moderately empowered (2-3),little empowered (1-2) and very little empowered(0-1). Likewise, responses were collected from therespondents for the two occasions such as beforeand after joining of membership to the Kadalicultivation with institutional intervention of theLCS by using structured interview schedule andfocus group discussion. The data were analyzedusing simple percentage, mean, t test and indexfor meaningful interpretation. The Empowermentdynamics index (EDI )was calculated by usingthe following formula.

EDI= KEI+PsyEI+SEI+EEI+PEI / 5

Where EDI = Empowerment Dynamic Index, KEI= Knowledge empowerment index, PsyEI =Psychological empowerment index, SEI= Sociologicalempowerment index EEI= Economic empowermentindex, PEI= Political empowerment index

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONKnowledge empowerment

The knowledge empowerment was analyzedin terms of awareness of information, knowledge

and skills possessed by the respondents beforeand after joining in Kadali cultivation andmarketing programme facilated by the LCS ispresented in table1.

It was noticed that knowledge on theapplication of organic practices(K1), organicinputs(K2) and banana sucker selection (K3) bythe respondents have been increased from 1.8,1.9, and 2.2 to 3.2, 3.4, and 3.0, respectively afterjoining in the value chain. Knowledge on thesupport services given by the LCS (K6) has beendrastically increased from 2.1 to 3.6. All therespondents (100%) have responded positivelywhen asked questions regarding group farmingafter joining in joint liability group (K4). Amongthe subcomponents studied, support services givenby LCS (K6), application of organic manures (K2)and organic practices in Kadali banana cultivation(K1) have been contributed heavily on thedimension of knowledge empowerment.

It was evident that mean scores of all thedimensions of knowledge empowerment wereincreased substantially. The major reason forknowledge empowerment was mainly due to theirparticipation members in the LCS lead flagshipprogramme with involvement of variousdevelopment agencies in the study area. Similartype of results were reported by Ashokhan (2006).T-test showed a significant difference in the meanscores of subcomponents viz., K3, K6 and K5.Hence it may concluded that LCS played asignificant facilitative role in the knowledgeempowerment of women farmers.

Table 1. Knowledge empowerment of women farmers . (n=60)

Sr. No. Knowledge empowerment components Mean Score t- test value Before After

Joining Joining

K1 Adoption of organic practices in Kadali banana cultivation 1.8 3.2 5.2063**K2 Application of organic manures 1.9 3.4 1.0131K3 Knowledge in screening and selection of disease free suckers 2.2 3.0 8.3649**K4 Knowledge on group farming and its benefits 1.3 3.8 3.0612**K5 Knowledge on value addition of kadali banana 2.0 3.0 8.1276**K6 Knowledge on support services given by LCS 2.1 3.6 8.1312**

Total mean score 11.3 20

Overall mean Score 1.88 3.34Source: Primary Data t value (1% significance) = 2.6617


Sendilkumar

46

Psychological empowermentThe psychological empowerment dimension

of the women farmers was assessed in terms ofchange in courage, decision making quality, risktaking ability etc. (Table 2)

Table2 reveals that there has beenconsiderable improvement in the psychologicalattributes studied. The confidence level of thewomen farmers in Kadali cultivation has beenincreased considerably which is evident from theobtained mean scores (1.8 to 3.6).

Remarkable improvement in motivationtowards Kadali cultivation was noticed (meanscore from 1.8 to 4.0). This was mainly due tovarious farmers’ friendly initiatives taken by theLCS and VFPCK with technological support fromKerala Agricultural University bounded institutionin the study area. The risk taking ability of themember farmers were also found to be increased.Regarding feeling of self-esteem and decisionmaking ability, there has been an outstandingimprovement, were noticed. The feeling of self-esteem has been increased from the mean score

of 2.3 to 3.0, because of the pride that Kadali fruitsbeing complimented with spiritual value andsupplied to Guruvayur Devosm for the devotionalpurpose.

The t-test showed a significant difference inthe mean scores on confidence, risk taking ability,motivation and self esteem. This significancechange might be due to the positive impact ofgroup farming through mobilizing the jointliability group (JLG) towards Kadali cultivationin the study area.

3. Social empowermentThe social empowerment was studied in terms

of freeness to work with group members,participation in group activities, involvement inthe decision making process, participation in LCSand gramsabha meetings, interaction with interand intra group members, team spirit andleadership quality. The results are depicted in theTable 3.

From the Table.3 it was evident that the womenfarmers have established good contact with

Table 2. Psychological empowerment of women farmers. (n=60)

Sr. No Psychological empowerment components Mean score t- test valueBefore joining After joining

P1 Confidence 1.8 3.6 4.3567** P2 Decision making quality 2.1 3.5 2.2185* P3 Risk taking ability 2.2 3.5 3.3242** P4 Motivation in Kadali farming 1.8 4.0 9.2541** P 5 Self esteem 2.3 3.2 2.5740**

Total mean score 10.2 13.8

Overall mean score 2.04 2.76 Source: Primary Data t value (1% significance) = 2.6617

Table 3. Social empowerment of women farmers. (n=60)

Sr.No. Sociological empowerment components Mean Score t- test value Before Joining After Joining

S 1 Free interaction with inter and intra group members 2.3 3.4 6.4136**S2 Participation in group activities 2.6 3.0 2.4269**S3 Participation in decision making 2.7 3.4 7.5136**S4 Participation in LCS and grama sabha meeting 2.7 2.8 0.1094S5 Leadership quality 2.6 3.1 3.9637**S6 Group responsibility consensus to solve problem 2.4 3.2 8.2600**S7 Developing institutional contact 2.1 4.0 9.2419**S8 Group marketing skill 1.8 3.1 3.9292**


Overall mean score 2.40 3.25Source: Primary Data t value (1% significance) = 2.6617


A Gadget For Women Empowerment

47

supporting institutions. After associating with theKadali banana cultivation under JLG mode withLCS intervention, the mean scores for the abovesaid subcomponents were increased from 2.1 to4 and 3.9 respectively. Karpagam (2009) reportedthat social dynamics was greatly developed afterbecoming the members of irrigation association.Similar social dynamics were also observed amongthe members of JLG, which was evident from theincreased mean score (S1: 2.3 to 3.4).

In the case of participation of JLG membersin the group activities and involvement in decisionmaking process, considerable improvementnoticed in the mean scores (S2, S3). The workingnature of the JLG programme and their associationwith the development department might be thereason for enhancement in the socialempowerment.

The t-test values showed significant differencein the mean scores on the components like freeinteraction with inter and intra group members ofJLG (S1), participation in group activities(S2),involvement in decision making(S3), leadershipquality (S5) group responsibility and consensusto solve problem(S6), developing institutionalcontact and linkage with developingdepartments(S7), group marketing skill(S8). It canbe seen that leadership quality of the respondentswere improved and the other components suchas participation in LCS and Gramasabha meetingswere remains more or less same even after joiningin the venture.

4. Economic empowermentThe economic empowerment dimension was

studied with inclusive of parameters like income,savings habit, investments, financial managementskill, purchasing of input of farming etc. weregiven in Table 4.

It was evident that income of the womenfarmers had reasonably increased, might due tothe remunerative price (@ Rs. 3/- fruit) obtainedfor the Kadali banana by virtue of the LCS contractwith Guruvayur Devosom. Regarding thepurchase of agri-inputs (E8), respondents havegained increased mean score (3.5), due to the factthat monitoring role of LCS in controlled supplyof quality and disease, pest free suckers. In thecase of availing of agricultural loans (E4), farmershave been empowered adequately (mean score1.2 to 2.3), because of the good service renderedby Vallikulangara Service Cooperative Bank to itsmembers.

The savings of the members have slightlyincreased (2.4) due to assured return fromfarming. In the case of subcomponent oneconomic empowerment: “banana cropinsurance” (E7) no change in the mean score wasnoticed due to lack awareness of the scheme andthe poor out reach. t-test values computed alsosupport the mean score obtained and shownsignificant difference in saving of money (E2),investments in assets creation (E3) and purchasinginputs (E8).

Table 4. Economic empowerment of women farmers. (n=60)

Sr.No Economic empowerment components Mean Score t-test valueBefore joining After joining

E1 Increased income due to yield obtaining 2.3 3.3 1.8342E2 Saving habits 1.5 2.4 4.3848**E3 Investments in assets 1.2 1.7 6.5988**E4 Availing agriculture loans from credit institution 1.2 2.3 2.0157*E5 Financial management skill 2.4 3.0 1.1696E6 Availing the facilities of LCS 1.4 1.8 0.0030E7 Availing banana crop insurance 1.0 1.0 NAE8 Purchase of inputs of farming 1.7 3.5 2.7519**

Total Mean Score 12.70 19.0



Sendilkumar

48

5. Political EmpowermentThe political empowerment studied with

variables like membership in social organization,position assumed in the society and political party,freedom of expressing ideas in politics andconflict management were shown in Table 5.

Data (Table 5) revealed that the mean scoredifferences obtained by the respondents inpolitical empowerment components, were seemsto more or less same. A few respondents were heldmembership in political parties at the micro-level.With respect to conflict management, the averagescore obtained by the respondents was increasedby 0.4. Slight improvement in the mean score wasnoticed in the case of variables, such asmembership in social organization, position in thepolitical parties and freedom of expressing ideasin politics. The t-test showed a significantdifference in the mean score obtained for conflictmanagement (P4) because the conflictmanagement is very much needed for the jointliability group to settle down various issues arisesout conflict from time to time.

7. Empowerment Dynamics Index (EDI)Empowerment dynamics index were computed

by inclusive of major components such asknowledge empowerment, psychological

empowerment, social empowerment, economicempowerment and political empowerment (Table 6).

It was computed that 37.8 per cent increasein the empowerment dynamics index (Table 6).This might be due to cumulative effect ofempowerment in all components ofempowerment. The increase in EDI was reportedfor the knowledge empowerment component(77%), economic empowerment component(49.84%), social empowerment component(35.41%), psychological empowermentcomponent (35%) and political empowermentcomponent (13.11%) in order. Hence it wasconcluded that relatively considerableenhancement has noticed in all the dimensions ofwomen empowerment studied.

CONCLUSIONThe farmers driven value chain for Kadali

banana with LCS intervention in cultivation andmarketing has become an instrumental for broughtabout adequate women empowerment. On thebasis of the study conducted, it can be said thatappropriate team building and leadershipmanagement programmes could be designed tosuit for gender specific JLG to nurture theempowerment dimension. Similarly,exclusivegender specific training module incorporating soft

Table 5. Political empowerment of women farmers. (n=60)

Sr. No. Political empowerment components Mean Score t- test valueBefore joining After joining

P1 Membership status in the social organizations 1.7 1.8 0.0896P2 Position in the political parties 1.3 1.4 1.0000P3 Freedom of expression of ideas in politics 1.4 1.5 0.0327P4 Conflict management in settling issues 1.7 2.1 9.3474**



Table 6. Empowerment Dynamics Index (EDI) of women farmers. n=60

Componen Dimensions of Empowerment IndexBefore joining After joining

Knowledge empowerment index(KEI) 0.452 0.800Psychological empowerment index(PsyEI) 0.408 0.552Social empowerment index (SEI) 0.480 0.650Economic empowerment index(EEI) 0.317 0.475Political empowerment index(PEI) 0.305 0.345Empowerment dynamics index(EDI) 0.392 0.564


A Gadget For Women Empowerment

49

skills on the light of empowerment dimensions ofwomen farmers could be developed to meet thechallenges of group farming and value additionaspect of Kadali banana has to be scaled up afteranalyzing the business potential and adequatelyempowered through incubation process.

REFERENCESAshokhan M (2006). A study on empowerment of SHG operated

in selected district of TamilNadu –An empirical study, Ph.Dthesis (Unpublished), Dept of AE&RS, TNAU, Coimbatore.

Kirkman B L, Lowe K B and Young D P ( 1999) . High-performance work organizations, Definition, Practices andan annotated bibiliography. Centre for creative Leadership,North Carolina.

IFAD M4 P. 2008. Making Value Chains Work Better for thePoor: A toolbook for practitioners of Value Chain Analysis,December 2008. Available: www.valuechains4poor.org

Karpagam C (2009) . Social dynamics of farmers in drip irrigationsystem of selected crops-An empirical study. Ph.D thesis(Unpublished), Dept of AE&RS, TNAU, Coimbatore.


Fig.1 Flows of product, information and knowledge in the value chain of kadali banana.


Sendilkumar

50

Feminization of Agriculture: Reflections from theFemale Participation in Training Programmes on

Agriculture and Allied ActivitiesManisha Bhatia* and Jugraj Singh Marok,

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Langroya, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahr)-144516 (Punjab)

ABSTRACTWomen are actively involved in agriculture and contribute significantly in agriculture and alliedactivities. Despite their active involvement in all aspects of agriculture like crop selection, landpreparation, seed selection, cold storage handling, marketing and processing, their work isunorganized, unvalued and unrewarded. Active involvement of women in agriculture clearlyindicates the feminization of agriculture referring to increasing presence or visibility in agriculturelabour force, whether as agricultural worker, independent producers or unremunerated familyworkers. Is this trend of visibility of women in agriculture equally visible when it comes tocapacity building of farmers? Is women participation in training programmes proportionate totheir participation in agriculture and allied activities? The present paper was an attempt to findan answer to this by looking at the various vocational trainings conducted in the field ofagriculture and allied activities from gender lens. The trainings conducted in the field of poultry,dairy, bee-keeping, mushroom cultivation and agricultural engineering during the last fiveyears (2010-2014) in Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar were analyzed. Thestudy indicated that although the participation of females in training programmes related toagriculture and allied activities has increased especially in dairy and mushroom cultivation butit was not in proportion and according to the rate of participation of females in agriculture ortheir representation in the population.

Key Words: Feminization, Capacity building, Women participation, Training programmes.


INTRODUCTIONWomen form an integral part of the society.

Human Development Index report states thatwomen is half of the world’s population, yet theydo 2/3rd of the total work, earn 1/10th of the totalincome and own less that 1/100th of the totalproperty of the world. This indicates that despitetheir sizable population and proportionatecontribution to the work, women have a littleaccess to the resources and little say in the decisionmaking. Women are perceived as second sexdependent on men and irony is that not only menbut also most women hold the same view aboutthemselves because of the traditional orientation.The reason for such a view is also due to theperceived roles, constraints and needs of men andwomen in our society.

Gender role differs from biological role of menand women, although they may overlap. Asidefrom raising children, women are expected toprepare all meals, maintain the homestead and inrural areas they assist in crop and animalproduction. Women work as agricultural labour,unpaid worker in the family farm enterprise butdespite the involvement of women in agriculturemen are generally labeled as ‘farmers’ and womenas ‘child raisers and cooks’.

Contribution of women in agriculture andallied activities is indicative from the fact that 48per cent of the India’s self employed farmers arewomen and there are 75 m. women engaged indairy as against 15 m. men and 20 million inanimal husbandry as compared to 15 m. men.These impressive figures are indicative of active


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00035.5

51

involvement of women in agriculture and alliedactivities thus resulting in feminization ofagriculture –a term which broadly refers to theincreasing presence or visibility in agriculturelabour force, whether as agricultural worker,independent producers or unremunerated familyworkers. If this is true the same trend of womenparticipation should also be represented in varioustraining programmes conducted for the capacitybuilding of farmers in the field of agriculture andallied activities. In view of the critical role ofwomen in the agriculture as producers, Sidhu(2011) suggested that benefits of training shouldreach women in proportion to their participationpattern. Participation of women in trainingprogrammes will enhance their skills andstrengthens faith in them for effective andindependent performance of farm operations andhelp them to make a shift from physicallyenduring operations to specialized tasks. There isneed to focus on gender related data in agricultureand related sectors to build a better understandingand proper balancing of resources. This might bea step towards gender sensitization and therebycreating a more favourable gender relations andwork environment.

As per Census 2011 of the total cultivators9.37 per cent are females in Punjab while femaleagricultural laboureres form 21.97 per cent of thetotal agricultural laboureres. The correspondingfigures for Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar were 8.01per cent female cultivators and 38.35 per cent ofthe female agricultural labourer. Females in thedistrict participate in harvesting and weeding asindicated in the study conducted by Sidhu (2011).Similarly Goyal et al (2003) conducted a study inBalachaur and Saroya blocks of Shaheed BhagatSingh Nagar district found that farm women wereparticipating in weeding, harvesting and leastparticipation in plant protection measures, raisingnursery, for seedling and ploughing. With verysmall landholdings in this area, the major activitiesof farming which were mostly drudgery ladenwere performed by women. Seed treatment andfertilizer application were male centeredoperations. The high level of women participationin farm operations is attributed to very smalllandholding in the foothills which lead to menfolk

seeking another employment opportunitiesoutside the village leaving women to perform mostof the task at the farm land.

KVKs are one of the agencies which areactively involved in training the farmers and farmwomen in agriculture and allied areas thusencouraging and developing skills for self-sufficiency and indirectly contributing to womenempowerment. The study was undertaken withthe objective to ascertain the proportionate numberof women enrolled for training conducted at KVK,Langroya Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar in the fieldof dairy, poultry, bee-keeping, mushroomcultivation and agricultural engineering. Further,is the number of female trainees equal to thenumber of male trainees?

MATERIALS AND METHODSIn order to analyze the visibility of women in

capacity building trainings conducted by theKVK, gender wise data of the participants in thevocational trainings conducted in the field ofpoultry, dairy, bee-keeping, mushroom cultivationand agricultural engineering during the last fiveyears (2010-2014) were collected. The vocationaltrainings conducted in the field of home sciencewere excluded purposively as the aim was to knowthe participation of rural women and their capacitybuilding in the field of agriculture and alliedactivities only. In order to focus on the trends offemale participants in these training programmesthe data were analyzed in the form of percentageand percentage point change both annually forthe years under study and also overall percentagepoint changes during the last five years.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe data (Table 1) revealed that during the

year 2010, the number of female participants wasnot more than 3 in any of the training programmewhich indicates that their participation wasnegligible. There was no female participant intrainings on poultry. No training was conductedin the field of agriculture engineering during thisyear. Similarly in the year 2011, the number offemale participants was only 9 in mushroomcultivation with no female participants in bee-keeping.


Bhatia and Marok

52

The trend remained same in the year 2012.The number of female participants increased innext year with their number rising to 13 intrainings on mushroom cultivation. Theparticipation of females was quiet visible in allthe trainings programmes. During 2014, anupward trend in the participation of females invarious training programmes was observed, thenumber being highest again in trainings onmushroom cultivation followed by trainings onbee-keeping. Participation of females in varioustraining programmes needs to be looked in termsof their proportionate participation with respectto males.

Animal husbandry is predominantly a femaleaffair in case of farmers of medium and low socio-economic status. On an average a women devotes3.5 hr/d for animal husbandry activities againstonly 1.6 hr/d devoted by men in this category.Women accounted for 93 per cent of totalemployment in dairy production. Depending uponthe economic status, women perform the tasks ofcollecting fodder, collecting processing dung.Women undertake dung composting and carryingto the fields. Thus, most of the activities related todairy are being performed by females only with

Table 1. Gender wise distribution of participants in vocational trainings in agriculture and allied activities (2010-2014)

Year Dairy Poultry Bee keeping Mushroom Agriculturalcultivation Engineering

2010Male 48 25 33 21 -Female 1 0 3 2 -Total 49 25 36 23 -



2013Male 6 12 75 29 10Female 2 1 6 13 2Total 18 13 81 42 12

2014Male 37 5 42 34 10Female 10 6 16 20 0Total 47 11 58 54 10

very little male involvement but when it comes tocapacity building and training the participation offemales was only 12 per cent in the year 2012and 11 per cent in 2013.

Trainings on dairy seem to have a steadyincrease in the female participation over the yearsin reference. The representation of females in thetrainings on dairy was only 2 per cent in 2010which increased to 21 per cent in 2014. Thusone-fifth of the total participants of dairy trainingduring the year were females. There was norepresentation of females in training programmesrelated to poultry in 2010 while year 2014witnessed an increase of about 27 per cent. Ofthe participants who took training on bee keeping8 per cent were females in 2010 while in 2014their representation was 27 per cent (Table 2).Mushroom cultivation seems to be gainingpopularity among the females as only 9 per centfemales got trained in this field in 2010 but theirproportion increased to 37 percent in 2014.Agricultural engineering trainings were not verypopular among the female as indicative from 16per cent female participation in these trainingprogrammes in 2013 while none of themparticipated in 2014.


Feminization of Agriculture

53

The participation of females in the trainingprogrammes reflect that although the trend offemale participate in agriculture and relatedactivities has increased over time but still it wasnot proportionate to their active involvement inagriculture and allied activities. This may be dueto the fact that they were not interested or notallowed to take trainings to upgrade their skill andtechnical know-how. This reflects the patriarchalmindset which results in involving women in alllabour intensive activities but when it comes tocapacity building they are kept at backstage.Despite their significant contribution in agriculturewomen are excluded from community meetingsthey have no access to education and trainingwhich limit their capacity for proactiveinvolvement. This results in women having a littleaccess to the resources and little say in the decisionmaking.

The data revealed that mushroom cultivationwhich is less labour intensive and relatively easywas most popular among the females whileagricultural engineering training programmeswhich involves relatively more technicalknowledge and machinery was least popular. Butis the trend of female participation samethroughout the reference period under study?

Data on annual percentage points changeindicated that female participation increased by 5percentage points during 2011 and 2012respectively in poultry. The change in these

trainings was 10 percent points during 2014. Incase of trainings in poultry a change of 5 percentpoints was recorded in 2011 while the change infemale participation in training programmes washigh as indicated in 19 percent points change in2013. In case of trainings on bee-keeping thechanges are quiet substantial. From a percentpoints change of -8 in 2011 the change is quietimpressive, it changed by 20 percent points in2014. Female participation in trainings onmushroom cultivation had seen a downward trendas indicated by annual percent points change.This may be due to the fact that the participationof females in these trainings was already higherin 2011. A steep hike is seen in the participationof females in the training programmes in year2014 as indicated by the maximum annualpercent points change during this year. This maybe attributed to the efforts to rope in and involvevarious self-help groups existing in the district invarious training programmes of KVK.

Percent point change during the five years ismaximum in case of trainings on mushroomcultivation followed by poultry, dairy and beekeeping. This further substantiated the fact thatthere has been a steady increase in the participationof females in the training programmes related toagriculture and allied activities during the periodof five years especially in case of dairy andmushroom cultivation. This indicates a steptowards capacity building of rural women and in

Table 2. Percentage of female participants in vocational trainings in agriculture and allied activities (2010-2014).

Training Course 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014Dairy 2 7 12 11 21Poultry 0 5 0 8 27Bee keeping 8 0 3 7 27Mushroom cultivation 9 20 23 30 37Agricultural Engineering - - - 16 0

Table 3. Percent points change in female participation in trainings in agriculture and allied activities.

Training Course Annual Percent Points Change Percentage point changeduring five years

2011 2012 2013 2014 (2014-2010)Dairy 5 5 -1 10 19Poultry 5 -5 8 19 27Bee keeping -8 3 4 20 19Mushroom cultivation 11 3 7 7 28Agricultural engineering 0 0 16 -16 0


Bhatia and Marok

54

turn empowerment of women but still it was notproportionate to the rate of participation of femalesin agriculture. The representation of females inthese training programmes was not even inaccordance of their representation in thepopulation. Thus further efforts are needed toencourage women participation in such capacitybuilding programmes. Also an in depth follow upstudy is needed to ascertain the capacity buildingand role of females who had undergone suchtraining programmes in the decision-makingprocess.

CONCLUSIONThe present study conducted to explore the

participation of females in various vocationaltrainings conducted at KVK SBS Nagar from last5 years. The study pointed out the fact that theparticipation of females in these trainingprogrammes related to agriculture and alliedactivities has increased over a period of time.There was an increase in the percent points changein the females participating in these vocational

training programmes during the period inreference but was not in proportion andaccordance to the rate of participation of femalesin agriculture or their representation in thepopulation. Hence, efforts are needed to rope inmore females in various capacity buildingprogrammes of KVK with a missionary zeal.

REFRENCESSidhu K (2011). Agro Climatic Zone vise Analysis of Women in

Farming in Punjab. Journal of Home Economics 33(1) 47-52.

Goyal G, Randhawa V, Kaur R, Kaur V and Pannu K (2003).Women Participation in Agri-Operations. Journal of FamilyEcology 5:167-171.

Stuadt K A (1973). Women Farmers and Inequalities in Agriservices. Rural Africana 29 :81-93.

Census (2011). Office of Registrar General and Census Operations.Government of India.

Kumar A, Tanuja S and Chahal V P (2012). Role of Women inLivestock Husbandry, Fisheries and Aquaculture for theirEmpowerment. Indian Farming-Special Issue on Women inAgriculture: Opportunities for Incusive Growth 61 (12):21-24.



Feminization of Agriculture

55


Impact Assessment of Skill Development ProgrammeFor Rural Women in District Ludhiana

Prerna KapilaDepartment of Apparel and Textile Science, College of Home Science,

Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004 ( Punjab)

ABSTRACTThe present study was designed to assess the impact of skill development trainings rendered

with the help of local knitwear industry with a twin objective of solving the skilled labourdeficit by providing training to local labour pool and for empowering rural women. Therespondents for the study were selected by purposive sampling technique and consisted ofrural women who showed interest in taking such training at the time of baseline survey. A totalsample size of 90 respondents was selected through a purposive sampling technique at threelocations. The training was provided through a modular training program on industrial machinesas per the requirement of the industry. The data for benefits received by the rural women andthe impact assessment was gathered through an interview schedule method and analyzedthoroughly. The study revealed that the trainings provided by industry were considered usefulby 76 per cent of rural women and it empowered them in certain areas as decision making, self-reliance and confidence building. Though the training contributed a lot in empowering womenstill the impact on income generation was at satisfactory level. Opportunity of employmentand need based training was a major factor behind the success of skill development initiative.

Key Words: Assessment, Skill development, Programme, Rural women.

INTRODUCTIONSkill development is an area which has

hogged the limelight in the recent years due tothe unprecedented shortage of skilled manpoweracross the clusters and the knitwear cluster ofLudhiana is no exception. This industry has thepotential to provide employment to approximately4 lac workers as skilled as well as unskilledworkforce. Majority of the presently employedworkers are migrants from the neighboring statesand engage in cyclic employment. The industryis facing a deficit of almost 1.5 – 2.0 lac workersin skilled worker category. This deficit is resultingin reduced capacity utilization of the industrialunits and the productivity, quality and costcompetitiveness of the cluster is adversely affected.This has forced the industries to look at alternatesources of labor, and the attention is drawn to localunskilled manpower pool like the rural femalesand school dropouts etc.

In the knitwear industry of Ludhiana, it wasseen that female employment is less than 2 per

cent of the workforce and females from rural andbackward urban areas can be great pool of skilledoperators. This labor pool need to be firstmotivated to come out to work and then comesthe need to provide training as per the requirementsof the industry. It is a known fact that educationand skills training enhance the capability ofwomen and men to apply new techniques, thusincreasing their potential for being employed aswell as the productivity and competitiveness ofenterprises.

Training of rural manpower is considered oneof the most important strategies for ensuringsustainable development. However mostly ruralwomen are underprivileged in comparison to menin their access and abilities to partake in educationand training. The successful skill developmentmodel should be economical, replicable as wellas sustainable; The main objective of the skilldevelopment training is to train rural people tobring about improvement in their income whichultimately leads towards better living standards.


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00036.7

56

These skill development trainings are arranged byindustrial associations, keeping in view themanpower requirements of local industry. Hence,the present study was undertaken with theobjective to conduct a skill development programfor rural women and to assess its impact in therural area of Ludhiana district.

MATERIALS AND METHODSA training schedule was prepared for skill

development of rural women for sewingoperations on industrial machines. For conductingthe training, three rural areas were selected byPurposive sampling technique. A total of 30women each were selected from these rural areaswhich fall near the periphery of Ludhiana citykeeping in mind the proximity of the training areato the probable area of subsequent placement. Atraining program of one month duration wasconducted with the help of certified trainers forskill development of the respondents. For impactassessment of the training program, two sets ofinterview schedule were prepared. The firstinterview schedule was prepared for baselinesurvey of the respondents and the second set wascreated to check the impact of the trainingprogram on rural unemployed women. The datawas recorded and evaluated to assess the actualimpact of the training program on the social andeconomic conditions of rural women and theirfamilies.


Perception about traineesIt was noticed in the baseline survey that due

to cultural barriers, females in Punjab are not veryopen or keen on working in factories especiallyin the garment industry. It required a continuousarray of motivational lectures, success stories andinspiring leaders to break these barriers. Training

curriculum was designed keeping in mind thatall the trainees do not possess any work experienceof that particular skill. It also depended on theparticular requirement of the firms whereplacement was to be targeted so that traineescould perform efficiently in the firms after training.

The duration of the training program was suchthat trainees not only learned the skill but alsoachieved a particular speed and efficiency levelacceptable in the industry so that they can workat par with previously employed workers, Thetrained workforce was afterwards convinced toget employed in the industry so that they can earna salary and raise the standard of living for theirfamilies. Providing training centre in the vicinityof their residences created a comfort zone for thetrainees to learn required skills and getemployment in the industry.

Ranking order in improvementThe ranking of the areas where an

improvement was felt by the respondents as aresult of skill development trainings is presentedin Table 1 which shows that confidence buildingamong participants ranked first whileimprovement in their decision making capacitieswas ranked second. These two improvements fellin between excellent and good categories butdecision making tended more toward goodcategory. Income generation also fell in betweensatisfactory and good categories but tended moretoward good category and was ranked third withweighted mean score of 275. Shaista (1989) wasof the view that a large number of rural womenwere willing to take part in income generatingactivities due to the reason that income levels oftheir husbands were very low and they wantedincrease in income to improve their family livingthrough these activities. The ranking of incomegeneration at number III may be due to the fact

Table 1. Respondents’ perception about the improvement areas as a result of training. (n=90)

Areas Weighted Mean Score Rank orderConfidence Building 430 IDecision making 315 IIIncome generation 275 IIIWorking efficiency 170 IVLearning ability 160 V

(Scale: 1= Poor, 2=Fair, 3= Satisfactory, 4= Good, 5= Excellent, X= No response


Kapila

57

described by Protz (2001) that when womenparticipate in income-generating activities andhave to go outside of their homes to do that, itrepresents a higher exposure to risk for themespecially when their social roles andresponsibilities, their mobility in the society andthe range of their social interactions are narrowlyand very rigidly defined and practiced. Areas likeworking efficiency and learning ability fell inbetween fair and poor categories but tendedtoward fair category and were ranked 4th and 5thwith WMS 170 and 160, respectively.

Training involves the facilitation of learningby people who can benefit by attaining newknowledge, skills or attitude (Wentling, 1993).Asif (2003) narrated in this connection that trainingmust focus on the real needs of people. Trainingwhich fails to meet learning needs is waste of time,effort, and resources. Rural women’s training isnecessary especially in case when any formaleducation is absent. Training programs canenhance their efficiency and competency. Modulartraining programs like stitching on industrialmachine could be fruitful in income generationperspective. According to Anuradha and Reddy(2013) vocational education and training can playa vital role for many of the rural women byimproving household productivity, incomeearning opportunities, employability and also forenhancing food security and promotingsustainable rural development.

Impact of training programThe respondents were assessed for their skill

level on the completion of training program. Itwas evident (Table 2) that 75.6 per cent participantswere able to reach the level of highly skilled personand were considered fully employable in anassembly line of sewing operations while only 13.3persons were at the level of being semi skilledafter the completion of the training program andrequired further trainings and practice to reach the

stage of being employable by the industry. It wasalso seen that 11.1 per cent participants in thetraining program were only marginally skilledafter the completion of training duration and werenot considered suitable for providing regularemployment with the knitwear industry.

Employment status of trainees

As the training programs were conducted witha specific purpose of providing employment totrained persons in knitwear industry as sewingmachine operators, it was necessary to check theexact employment status on the completion oftraining program. The data collected after onemonth of completion of training program isdepicted in Table 3 which shows that even thoughthe percentage of participants who wereconsidered fully employable by the trainingprovider was much higher, the percentage ofparticipants who actually joined as regularworkforce stood much lower at 54.4 per cent only.Table 3. Employment status of trainees after completion of

training programmme. n=90

Employment Status Frequency PercentageRegular employment 49 54.4Part time employment 14 15.6Own business 12 13.3Not employed 15 16.7

The participants who took up part timeemployment were 15.5 per cent of the totalparticipants while 13.3 per cent of participantsstarted their own small scale business to make useof the skill learned during the training program.As many as 16.7 per cent participants stayedunemployed after successful completion oftraining program.

CONCLUSIONIt can be concluded from the results that the

Skill development training provided wasconsidered useful by rural women andempowered them in certain areas as decisionmaking, confidence building and also generatedemployment opportunities for a majority of themwhich could be a great factor in their economicand social upliftment. As a modular trainingcourse was designed keeping in mind therequirement of the industry, the training materialwas well organized and presented in logical

Table 2. Impact of training program on the skill level ofrespondents. n=90

Skill level Frequency PercentageHighly skilled 68 75.6Semi skilled 12 13.3Marginally skilled 10 11.1


Impact Assessment of Skill Development Programme

58

sequence. However, trainees were not veryactively involved in implementing trainings. Asthe training was organized at a location convenientto the respondents, a few of them attended thetraining only from the objective of skilldevelopment and the employment opportunitywas not availed by all the trained respondents.

REFERENCES Anuradha R V and Reddy G L (2013). Empowerment of Rural

Women Through Vocational Education and Training. ConfluxJournal of Education 1(2) , www.naspublishers.com

Asif N (2000). Utilization of Vocational Training Sialkot Region.An Impact Study of NRSP-Sialkot. NRSP MonitoringAssessment and Planning Section.

Protz M (2001). Gender Impact Analysis of the Mansehra VillageSupport Project and the Neelum and Jhelum ValleysCommunity Development Project, Rome . Available at: ifad.org/gender/learning/sector/e

Shaista, R (1989). A Sociological Study of Immigrant Families inKachi Abadies of City Faisalabad. Unpublished M.Sc Thesis,Department of Rural Sociology, University of Agriculture,Faisalabad, Pakistan.

Wentling T (1993). Planning for Effective Training: A Guide toCurriculum Development. FAO, Italy.



Kapila

59


Impact of Trainings of Fruits and VegetablePreservation on the Knowledge and Attitude of Rural

WomenKanta Sabharwal* and R.D. Panwar#

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Pandu Pindara, Jind – 126 102 Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar (Haryana)

ABSTRACTWomen form the major workforce in agriculture in general. In food processing sector participationof women is substantial particularly upstream activities. Keeping in view of involvement ofwomen in fruits and vegetable processing, the present study was conducted in Jind district ofHaryana state. A total of 200 rural women were selected for the study and training was impartedon fruits and vegetable preservation of 12 products. These findings revealed that there wasgreat difference between pre- and post- training exposure, mean score of knowledge and attitudewas highly significant. Maximum numbers of respondents has knowledge of products withtheir ingredients and methods of preparation and also have significant knowledge of precautionwhile making these products. Most of the respondents have positive attitude to start processingunit at a small scale as it is easy to manage small enterprise at village level.

Key Words : Fruit and Vegetable, Preservation, Training, Exposure, Processing, Enterprises.

INTRODUCTIONIndia is the second largest producer of fruits

and vegetables in the world, contributing 10.2 and14.5 per cent of the total world production of fruitsand vegetables, respectively. Women form themajor work force in agriculture in general. In thefood processing sector participation of women issubstantial particularly in upstream activities. Insector such as marine products, cashewprocessing, pickle manufacturing, the involvementof women is as high as 90 per cent. Foodprocessing sector generates significantemployment. The multiplier effect of investmentin food processing industry on employmentgeneration is 2.5 times than in other industrialsectors, higher than any other sector. Even withinfood processing industry, the employmentintensity is significantly higher in the unorganizedsector as compared to the organized sector for thesame level of investment. A study found thatmaximum percentage (85 %) of women haveparticipated in vegetable preservation, (57.14 %)were found to participate in transportation ofproduce and pickle making and 7.14 per cent jam

making (Baba et al, 2009). Viewing theinvolvement of women in fruit and vegetableprocessing, the present study was undertaken withspecific objective to impart training on selectedfruits and vegetables processing technologies andassess its impact in the form of gain in knowledgeand attitudinal change of rural women.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe present study was conducted at Krishi

Vigyan Kendra in Jind district of Haryana State.A total 200 rural women (20 in each group) wereselected for this study and training was impartedon 12 selected products of fruits and vegetablespreservation like various type of pickles, sauceand jam etc. The structured interview schedulewas used for data collection. In order to measurethe knowledge gain and attitudinal change pre-and post-exposure mean score of knowledge and‘t’ test was computed to see the significance ofthe message and percentage was calculated to seethe pre- and post-training attitude of women withregard to start a small enterprise or to adoptprocessing unit as a small income generatingactivities.

DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00037.9


60

Table 1. Gain in knowledge of rural women for fruits and vegetable preservation.

Sr. No. Components Pre-exposure Post-exp Gain in ‘t’ Value(mean-score) (mean-score) knowledge

1 Need for Preservation 19.26 30.17 10.91 19.05*2 Method of Preservation 14.84 29.71 14.87 36.21*3 Important points to kept in 13.34 25.08 11.74 31.46*

mind while preserving fruitsand vegetables

4 Specific information of different pickle, jam, chutney and sauce making

A Mango pickleI Ingredients 7.21 13.04 5.83 17.29*

II Methods of preparation 4.36 8.92 4.56 15.73*III Precautions 4.20 7.38 3.18 14.21*

B Mango ChutneyI Ingredients 4.29 7.93 3.64 14.42*


C Lemon Pickle(sour)I Ingredients 5.61 10.84 5.23 17.52*


D Lemon Pickle(sweet)I Ingredients 4.54 9.76 5.22 19.27*


E Green Chilli PickleI Ingredients 8.72 13.54 4.82 32.64*


F Mixed Vegetable PickleI Ingredients 7.83 14.94 7.11 18.64*


G Bitter Ground PickleI Ingredients 4.82 13.25 8.43 21.72*


H Aonla PickleI Ingredients 3.11 6.49 3.38 15.24*


I Tomato SauceI Ingredients 8.71 16.11 7.40 46.58*


J Apple JamI Ingredients 5.21 7.63 2.42 7.21*


Sabharwal and Panwar


61

K Mixed Fruit JamI Ingredients 2.13 8.71 6.58 9.93*


L Aonla CandyI Ingredients 2.10 7.42 5.32 19.22*


* Significant at 5% level of probability.

Table 2. Pre- and Post exposure attitude towards fruits and vegetables preservation.

Sr. No. Category Pre-exposure Post-exposureFrequency %age Frequency %age

1 Favourable 57 25.5 129 64.52 Some what Favourable 62 31.0 39 19.53 Not Favourable 81 40.5 32 16.0

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONSIt was evident from the data (Table 1) that all

the rural women respondents possessed low pre-exposure knowledge in all the fruits and vegetablepreservation technologies and after impartingtraining, respondents gained sufficient knowledgein all the technologies. It also depicted sufficientgain in knowledge regarding preservationtechnologies like need for preservation (M.S.10.91) method of preservation (MS 14.87) andimportant points to be kept in mind, the gain inknowledge while preserving fruits and vegetablewas (M.S. 11.74), respectively. Further, majorityof the respondents gained maximum knowledgefor making different pickles like for bitter guardpickle (M.S. 7.25), mix vegetable pickle (M.S.5.95), aonla pickle (M.S. 5.43) green chilli pickle(M.S. 5.11) and mango pickle (M.S. 4.56) etc. andrespondents gained maximum knowledge in applejam (M.S. 12.20) and mixed fruits jam (MS 5.11),respectively. Kashyap et al (2000) also showedthat skill training was imparted on need basedareas related to food processing and incomegenerating activities, trainees acquired sufficientknowledge and attitudinal change and skillacquisition in aforesaid activities.

It was evident from Table 2 that majority ofthe respondents (40.5%) had unfavourableattitude, followed by somewhat favourable(31.0%) and favourable only (25.5%) of pre-exposure training on attitudinal change. Aftergetting training programme on preservation,

majority of the respondents (64.5%) hadfavourable attitude, followed by somewhatfavourable (19.5%) and (16.0%) of respondentshad not favourable attitude towards fruits andvegetables preservation. The knowledge level ofrural women regarding value addition andproducts was enhanced because they were capableof making preservative products like pickle,squashes and murraba etc.

CONCLUSIONDuring this study a vast change in knowledge

was observed which means great difference in preand post training programme , mean score ofknowledge and high favourable attitude aftergetting training. Most of the respondents havefavourable attitude to adopt processing unit at asmall scale as it is easy to manage small enterpriseat village level. It may therefore be concluded thatrural women succeeded in acquiring knowledgeafter exposure training on preservation.Subsequently all the messages of differentpreservation technologies got significance at 5 percent level of significance.

REFERENCESBaba Z A, Hakim A H, Ganai N A, Malik K M and Sheikh T A

(2009). Role of Rural women in Agriculture and incomegenerating activities. Asian J. Home. Sci. 4(1): 1-3.

Kashyap S, Phogat P and Sabharwal K (2000) Action researchpertaining to the training of rural women and adolescent girlsfor improved home practices. Research Report CCS HAU,Hisar.


Impact of Trainings of Fruits and Vegetable Preservation


62

Knowledge and Adoption Status of Training onValue Addition

R G Manjarekar, P M Mandavkar and M S TalathiKrishi Vigyan Kendra

Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli-415712District Ratnagiri (Maharashtra)

ABSTRACTThe success of any training programme depends on periodic appraisal so that required changescan be made to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the programme. One hundred andtwenty five trainees were imparted training on value addition of fruits and vegetables byconducting 5 vocational training programmes and out of that 55 were selected for this study.The study was undertaken to assess the gain in knowledge of the participants, adoption statusof the enterprise and suggestions from the ex-trainees.

It was found that maximum adoption of 52 per cent was observed during the year 2011-12.Among the various practices of value addition, maximum knowledge gain (42.9 %) was observedfor methods of processing /value added products, aspects of permissible limits of food toxinswas least understood by the participants (28.4%) followed by F.P.O. specification(32.0 %).Hence, it was concluded that more emphasis needs be given to these practices during futuretraining courses. The characteristics of the participants viz., educational level, membership ofsociety and extension contact had positive influence on the knowledge gain of the participants.As perceived by 55 entrepreneurs, timely availability of raw material at reasonably low cost(76.4 %), training on advanced processing methods and new value added products with practicaldemonstration (70.9 %) and advance techniques for preservation and storage (65.5 %) werethree major suggestions for successful development of value addition of fruits and vegetablesentrepreneurship in Raigad district of Maharashtra.

Key Words : Knowledge, Adoption, Training, Value Addition.


INTRODUCTIONTraining programmes organized by Krishi

Vigyan Kendra’s (KVK) are very effective tool inany extension methodology being used fordissemination of latest agricultural technologiesto the farmers, farm women and rural youth. Thesuccess of any training programme depends onperiodic appraisal so that required changes canbe made to improve the efficiency andeffectiveness of the programme. To augment thefarmer’s family income, different vocationaltrainings are being conducted by Krishi VigyanKendra, Roha working under the aegis of Dr.Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth,Dapoli especially for the farm women and ruralyouth. Value addition can play a significant roleto eradicate malnutrition, alleviate poverty and

create employment opportunity for educatedunemployed youth and farm women. In thiscontext, there is a wide spread agreement amongagriculture scientists to the importance of adoptionof value addition of fruits and vegetables assubsidiary occupation in rural areas.

During 2008-2009 to 2012-2013, fivevocational training programmes of three daysduration were organized regarding value additionof fruits and vegetables in which 125 farmersparticipated. In order to evaluate the outcome ofthese training programmes, a study was conductedto assess the socio- economic profile of thetrainees, gain in knowledge, adoption status ofthe enterprise and to get suggestions from the ex-trainees for enhancing the entrepreneurship in


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00038.0

63

value addition of fruits and vegetables among therural farmers of the district.

MATETIALS AND METHODSThe study was conducted in Raigad district

of Maharashtra state. A performa was developedcomprising general information, background ofparticipants such as age, education, occupation,landholding etc. A total of 55 respondents werecontacted personally who had started theenterprise to some extent after getting training.To study the gain in knowledge, a simpleevaluation performa consisting of 50 questionswas prepared. (Five questions for each practice)was distributed among 55 respondents before andafter training. One mark was assigned for eachcorrect answer and zero for every incorrect answer.

Thus, 5 marks were given for each practice andtotal attainable score for each practice came outto be 55 X 5 =275 marks. Hence, gain inknowledge was calculated from the difference ofscores obtained in pre and post knowledge test ofthe trainees.

The dependant variable of this study was gainin knowledge of participants. The followingcharacteristics were selected a independentvariables namely age, education, family type,membership of society, annual income andextension contact. The relationship was furtherexplored between each of the selectedcharacteristics of participants (independentvariables) and their knowledge gain regardingvalue addition of fruits and vegetables (dependentvariable). Furthermore, the data were collected

Table 1. Socio economic profile of the respondents. (n=55)

Sr. No. Parameter Frequency Percentage1. AgeYoung (18-25) 16 29.1

Middle (25-45) 30 54.5Old (above 45) 9 16.4

2. EducationPrimary 15 27.3High School 18 32.7Matriculate 12 21.8Higher Secondary & above 10 18.2

3. OccupationFarming 39 70.9Others (service, business and labour) 16 29.1

4. Family typeNucleus 30 54.5Joint 25 45.5

5. Members of a society/organizationGram Vikas Mandal 13 23.6Farmers Club 12 21.8SHGs 20 36.4JLGs 10 18.2

6. Farm sizeLandless 15 27.3Marginal (<1ha) 28 50.9Small (1-2 ha) 8 14.6Semi medium (2-4 ha) 4 7.3

7. Annual Income(Rs.)Low < 30,000/- 20 36.4Medium 30,000/- to 50,000/- 28 50.9High > 50,000/- 7 12.7

8. Extension contact (Score)Low < 7 12 21.8Medium 8 to 15 28 50.9High > 15 15 27.3


Mandavkar et al

64

regarding suggestions to boost the value additionentrepreneurship through structured schedule bypersonal interview with the respondents. The datawere tabulated and analyzed using frequency andpercentage.


Socio-economic ProfileThe data (Table1) showed that more than half

(54.5 %) of the respondents belong to middle agegroup. However, nearly one-third (32.7%)respondent’s education was up to high schoolfollowed by primary education (27.3%).

The trainees were predominantly from ruralbackground. It was observed that 70.9 per centof the respondents engaged in farming and 54.5per cent belonged to joint family. The subsidiaryoccupation of value addition of fruits andvegetables attracted persons from farmingbackground as the inputs required for itsprocessing are readily available from the localitye.g. fruits of raw/ripe mango, jackfruit, karonda,cashew apple, tomato, carrots, lemons etc. All therespondents were members of co-operativesociety which shows their high socialparticipation. Further 50.9 per cent and 27.3 percent respondents belong to marginal and landlesscategory, respectively. Regarding Annual incomeand extension contact it was observed that equalnumber (28) of respondents belonged to mediumlevel of annual income and extension participant.As value addition of fruits and vegetableenterprise does not require arable land so therespondents from marginal land holding andlandless category wanted to adopt this enterpriseto augment their family income.

Adoption StatusIn case of starting the enterprise, maximum

adoption of 48.0 per cent was observed duringthe year 2010-2011 and minimum adoption 36.0percent during the year 2009-10 (Table 2). Thepercentage of non- adopters was on higher side(56.0%) probably due to the fact that small scalevalue addition of fruits and vegetables is aseasonal activity. Another reason for higher rateof non- adoption could be that the farmers do notacquire trainings before starting any enterprise.Similar results were also reported by Rachna et al(2013) and Singh et al (2010).

Gain in KnowledgeWith respect to gain in knowledge, data in

Table 3 revealed that, pre-training score of variouspractices ranged from 17.5 per cent in case ofF.P.O. specification to 38.2 per cent in case of useof quality raw material. Post-training score ofvarious practices ranged from 47.3 per cent in caseof permissible limits of food toxins to 70.2 percent in case of methods of processing and valueadded products. Pre-training knowledge score wasnot at all satisfactory for all the aspects of trainingprogramme. However, the knowledge score aftertraining was quite satisfactory among theparticipants in all aspects of the trainingprogramme except permissible limits of foodtoxins and F.P.O. specification in which the gainin knowledge was 28.4 per cent and 32.0 percent,respectively. These two aspects were leastunderstand by the participants. Hence, moreemphasis needs be given to these practices duringtraining courses.

Table 2. Adoption status of vocational trainings.

Year No. of l trainings No. of Adopters Non Percentageconducted participants adopters adoption (%)

2008-09 1 25 10 15 40.0

2009-10 1 25 9 16 36.0

2010-11 1 25 12 13 48.0

2011-12 1 25 13 12 52.0

2012-13 1 25 11 14 44.0

Total 5 125 55 70 44.0


Knowledge and Adoption Status of Training

65

Relationship between participant’scharacteristics and their knowledge gain

The nature of relationship between socio-economic characteristics and their knowledge gainwas assessed by correlation co-efficient (Table 4).Out of six, three of the selected characteristics ofthe participants viz. education (r= 0.59),membership of society (r = 0.67), and extensioncontact (r = 0.53) showed significant positivecorrelation with the knowledge gain ofparticipants. The positive and significantcorrelation indicate that the participants withhigher level of education, more social participationand extension contact had better knowledge gain.An interesting findings was that the age of therespondents showed non-significant relationship(r = -0.03) with knowledge gain of participantswhich lead to the fact that knowledge gain ofparticipants was not affected by the age of theparticipants. Similarly, family type (r = -0.19) andAnnual income (r = 0.09) also showed non-significant relationship with knowledge gain ofthe participants. The above findings were in linewith the findings of Jahan et al (2010).Table 4. Correlation between knowledge gain of the

participants and their selected characteristics.

Characteristics Correlation coefficient (r)Age -0.03 *Education 0.59Family type -0.19 *Membership of society 0.67Annual income 0.09*Extension contact 0.53

* Non significant at p <0.05 level of significance.

Table 3. Gain in knowledge about different practices of value addition of fruits and vegetables enterprise. (n=55)

Technology Score point Score point Gain in pointsobtained before obtained after

training trainingNutritive value and importance of value added products 90 (32.7) 182 (66.2) 92 (33.5)Use of quality raw material 105 (38.2) 191 (69.4) 86 (31.3)Methods of processing /value added products 75 (27.3) 193 (70.2) 118 (42.9)New range of value added products and their recipe 60 (21.8) 162 (58.9) 102 (37.1)Important tools and machineries required for processing 74 (26.9) 170 (61.8) 96 (34.9)Food spoilage and use of different preservatives 58 (21.1) 152 (55.3) 94 (34.2)Food hygiene and adulteration 62 (22.5) 178 (64.7) 116 (42.2)Permissible limits of food toxins 52(18.9) 130 (47.3) 84 (28.4)Labelling and packaging technology 76 (27.6) 170 (61.8) 94 (34.2)F.P.O. specification 48 (17.5) 136 (49.5) 82 (32.0)

(Figures in parenthesis are percentage value) Suggestions given by the respondentsThe results showed that timely availability of

raw material at reasonably low cost, training onadvanced processing methods and new valueadded products with practical demonstration andadvance techniques for preservation and storagewere the three major suggestions, as more than65 per cent of the respondents viewed that withoutsuch component value addition entrepreneurshipcannot be boosted up. Similar results werereported by Mishra (2008). Besides thesesuggestions, 58.2 per cent of the respondents feltthat availability of capital at low interest rate canhelp to the entrepreneur as well as solve thefinancial problems. Further availability ofmachineries at subsidized rate and regular supplyof electricity and ample amount of potable waterfree from objectionable impurities were thesuggestions given by 54.5 and 47.3 per cent ofrespondents, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe findings clearly indicate that conductance

of the trainings will provide much neededguidance to the trainees. The percentage of non-adopters was on higher side may be due to thefact that small scale value addition of fruits andvegetables is a seasonal activity. Value additionof fruits and vegetables enterprise does not requireadditional arable land, thus farmers with small andmarginal land holdings, farm women and ruralyouth can successfully augment their dwindlingfarm income. The positive and significantcorrelation indicate that the participants withhigher level of education, more social participation


Mandavkar et al

66

and extension contact had better knowledge gain.Also, timely availability of raw material atreasonably low cost is the major suggestion forimprovement in enterprise.

REFERENCESJahan N, Moonmon M and Shah M M I (2010). Grower’s

response to mushroom cultivation technologies disseminatedby mushroom development project. J Agric Soc Sci 6 :96-100.

Table 5. Suggestions given by the respondents. (n=55)

Suggestions Frequency(Percentage) RankingTimely availability of raw material at reasonably low cost 42 (76.36) ITraining on advanced processing methods and new value added 39 (70.91) IIproducts with practical demonstrationAdvance techniques for preservation and storage 36 (65.45) IIIAvailability of capital at low interest rate 32 (58.18) IVAvailability of machineries at subsidized rate 30 (54.54) VRegular supply of electricity and ample amount of potable water 26 (47.27) VIfree from objectionable impurities

Mishra S (2008). Entrepreneurship development for farm womenthrough mushroom cultivation. Oryza 45 (1) :68-71.

Singh K, Peshin R and Saini S K (2010). Evaluation of theagricultural vocational training programmes conducted by theKrishi Vigyan Kendra (Farm Science Centres) in Punjab. JAgril Rural Dev Tropics and subtropics 111 (2) : 65-77.

Rachna, Goel R and Sodhi G P S (2013). Evaluation of vocationaltraining programmes organized on mushroom farming byKrishi Vigyan Kendra, Patiala. J Krishi Vigyan 2(1) : 26-29.



Knowledge and Adoption Status of Training

67


Nutritional Evaluation of Quince Fruit and itsProducts

Sangita Sood and Mrinalini BhardwajDepartment of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Home Science

CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur 176062 ( Himachal Pradesh)

ABSTRACTAn effort was made to evaluate the Quince fruit for its quality parameters and develop productsnamely pickle, preserve, jam, chutney, squash, RTS and candy. The different products wereevaluated for various chemical constituents. On an average, it was founded that these productsare well suited for table use as they are rich in various constituent especially fiber and low in fatcontent i.e. almost equivalent to zero. So such product can find their remedial use in varioushealth related diseases.

Key Words: Nutritional evaluation, Quince , Fruit , Products.

INTRODUCTIONThe Quince (Cydonia oblonga) is a sole

member of the genus Cydonia and native to warm-temperate, southwest Asia in the Caucasus region.Fruit tree is a small deciduous tree, growing 5-8meter tall and 4-6 meter wide related to applesand pears, and unlike them having a pome fruit,which is golden yellow when mature and pear-shaped. Quince is one of the earliest known fruits.For over 4,000 years, Quince trees have grown inAsia and the Mediterranean. Today, Quince is alsofound in Latin America, the Middle East, and theUnited States. The Quince as we know it in theUnited States is a different fruit from that foundin Western Asia and tropical countries, where thefruit is softer and juicier.

In the raw form, the rind is rough and woody;the flesh is with an astringent due to high tannincontent and acidulous taste. Being rich in VitaminC, Vitamin A activity and Copper it boastsantioxidants, which helps the body to fight againstfree radicals and reduces the risk of degenerateddiseases. It is also rich in anti-viral properties. Itsregular consumption not only aids in digestionbut also helps to lower blood cholesterol due tolow in fat and high fiber. So its usage is good formaintaining the optimum health of individuals.

In Himachal, it is grown abundantly in Kulluvalley but is hardly used for table purposes except

as vegetable by the local people. There is lack ofknowledge on the proper processing know-howof the fruit. Keeping in view its tremendous

Figure 2 Cross Section of Quince

Figure 1 Quince Fruit


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00039.2

68

nutritive value an effort was made to evaluate thefruit for its quality parameters and develop somesuitable products which were assessed to variousphysical-chemical characteristics.

MATERIALS AND METHODFully mature, firm and medium-sized fruits

were collected from Kullu valley. After thoroughlywashing the fruits were blended in a blender justto get homogenized pulp for further analyzingvarious chemical parameters. For physicalanalysis ten fruits were selected at random. Athread was taken to measure the length and widthof the fruit and total length of the thread wasmeasured using a scale and expressed the resultsin terms of centimeter.

The edible fruit portion was cut intorectangular pieces after removing the core by fruitcorer. Then various preserved recipes were madeusing a standard method such as pickle, chutney,jam, preserve, candy, squash and RTS (Figure 3).These prepared products were also then analysedfor various chemical constituents like ascorbicacid, titrable acidity, total sugars, reducing sugars,pH (Ranganna, 2006).

Fresh sample of Quince was also analyzed forper cent moisture content, per cent protein, ash,fat and fiber by the method given by Ranganna(2006). NDF and ADF were also determined forfresh fruit. It was also analyzed by the methodsuggested by Van Soest and Wine (1967) whereas,mineral content were estimated by using atomicabsorption.

Figure 3 Quince Products


Physical ParametersAs is evident from Table 1 the fruit is golden

green in colour and round in shape and resemblesas apple, most often they are ball-shaped, apple-shaped, pear-shaped, often co stated. The weightof ten fruits ranged from 1.25-1.35 kg. Length offruit was measured as 27cm whereas, width wasestablished as 26.7 cm.Table 1. Physical parameters of quince fruit.

Physical parameters AttributesColour Golden greenShape Round with pointed endLength(cm) 27.0Width(cm) 26.7Weight (5 fruits) 1.25kg

Chemical ParametersThe chemical constituents were studied for

raw as well as for the processed samples such aspickle, chutney, jam, preserve, candy, squash andRTS. The experiments were conducted in threereplications and average value was taken for thefinal calculations. The data on the chemicalparameters of fresh fruit used for the study arepresented in Table 2. The average moisture contentof the fruit was 82 per cent, while per cent proteinwas 0.45, fat was found to be negligible amounti.e. 0.07, ash was recorded to be 2.5 per cent. Thefruit attained 5.7 per cent fiber. The values forNDF and ADF were recorded as 41.0 and 32.1per cent respectively.Table 2. Chemical composition of fresh quince fruit.

Parameter Per centMoisture content 82.00Protein 00.45Fat 00.07Percent fiber 05.70ADF 32.10NDF 41.00Ash 02.50

The nutritional composition of Quince fruit isdepicted in Table 3. Ascorbic acid value werefound to be 15.6mg/100g, titrable acidity 14.4percent, reducing sugars 9.2 percent and totalsugars was recorded as 14.7 percent. The contentof mineral substances is important which are


Sood and Bhardwaj

69

represented by phosphorus 12mg/100g, calcium7mg/100g, potassium 179mg/100g, iron 1 mg/100g and magnesium 7mg/100g. Other mineralssuch as sodium was 4mg, zinc 0.04mg and copperwas found to be 0.13mg/100g in the fresh quincefruit. Similarly, significant results were reportedby Michal (2001).Table 3. Nutritional composition of fresh quince fruit.

Parameters CompositionAscorbic acid (mg/100g) 15.6(%)Acidity 14.5(%)Reducing Sugars 09.2(%)Total Sugars 14.7(%)Phosphorus 12mg/100gCalcium 7mg/100gPotassium 179mg/100gIron 1.00 mg/100gMagnesium 7.00mg/100gSodium 4.00 mgZinc 0.04 mgCopper 0.13 mgManganese 0 mg

The results on the chemical composition ofpreserved products using a standard method areoutlined in Table 4. It is clear from the Table thatpH value of all the products were almost samei.e. they fall under the range of 3.0 -4.0 exceptfor pickle which had a value of 2.2. The highestvalue of ascorbic acid was noted in jam as itcontained 11.2mg /100g as compared to the otherproducts, which then followed by chutney 7.1,squash and preserve had 6.7, pickle 4.4, and leastvalue was observed in RTS and candy i.e. 2.2mg/100g. Data on per cent acidity revealed that picklehad a maximum value i.e. 20.1 per cent andminimum in preserve i.e. 5.1 per cent while othershad value ranged in between 6.4-15.3 per cent.

The reducing sugar and Total sugar contentwas minimum in pickle i.e. 8.1 and 12.9 per cent

respectively whereas it was recorded maximallyin preserve i.e. 56.8 and 67 percent respectively,which was then followed by candy i.e. 42.9 and49.7 percent respectively. The reducing sugarvalue of jam was recorded as 26.92, RTS 21.4,squash 24.2 and chutney 20.8 percent. The totalsugar value was recorded as 30.9 percent insquash, 26.4 in RTS, 32.26 in jam and 32.9percent in chutney.

CONCLUSIONThus it can be concluded that quince can be

used for table purpose. Unlike in fresh fruit,maximum ascorbic acid was observed in jam.Whereas, total and reducing sugar content wasfound to be increased as compared to the freshone. The fresh fruit can be stored for 2 weeksunder refrigeration conditions but preservedproducts of quince can be stored for longer periodunder room temperature. It is highly seasonableso can be preserved for further use. The preservedproducts of quince fruits were well accepted ascompared to the fresh fruit because it has anastringent, tart flavor and strong fragrance soquinces are commonly made into preserves,pickles, chutney, jam, squash, RTS and candy.

REFERENCESMichal.A., 2001. Quince (Cydonia oblonga mill) and its Growing

and Economic Descriptions.

Proceedings of 9TH International Conference of Horticulture,September 3th– 6th Lednice, Czech Republic, ISBN 80-7157-524-0, Volume 1, p. 3-7

Ranganna S ( 2006). Handbook of analysis and quality controlfor fruits and vegetables products. Tata McGraw HillPublishing Company Ltd. Delhi

Van Spest P J and Wine R H (1967). Use of detergent in theanalysis of fibrous foods, determination of plant cellconstituents. Journal of Association of Official Analyticalchemistry 50:50.


Table 4. Chemical composition of quince products.

PRODUCTS pH Ascorbic acid(mg/100g) Acidity(%) Total Sugars (%) Reducing Sugars(%)Squash 3.7 6.7 6.7 30.9 24.2RTS 3.5 2.2 6.9 26.4 21.4Jam 3.5 11.2 7.2 32.3 26.92Pickle 2.2 4.4 20.1 12.9 8.1Preserve 3.9 6.7 5.1 67 56.8Candy 4.0 2.2 6.4 49.7 42.9Chutney 3.0 7.1 15.3 32.9 20.8


Nutritional Evaluation of Quince Fruit

70

INTRODUCTIONRaichur district in Karnataka is considered as

rice bowl of Karnataka with the major crop beingpaddy grown under irrigated conditions in bothUpper Krishna (UKP) and Tungabhadra Project(TBP) area. Transplanting of the rice seedlingseither manually or mechanically was the majormethod followed by the farming community.Manual transplanting is one of the labor intensiveoperation comprising of nursery raising ,uprooting of the seedling and transplanting themin the main field, with total labor requirement ofabout 280-350 man- hours/ ha. Some of theposture which were taken by them were veryharmful. But they were compelled to adopt thosepostures during work for a long time. Duringtransplanting the workers adopt strongly bentposture in the muddy field for a long time. In allthe tasks of rice cultivation are repetitive in nature.Repetitive may be related to MusculoskeletalDisorders (MSD). The workers change theirposture very frequently and suffered frommusculoskeletal disorder duringperforming theirjobs (Kar and Dhara, 2007). High labor demand


On Farm Testing on Assessment of Different Type ofWeeders in Direct Seeded Rice

Mouneshwari R Kammar and Pramod KattiKrishi Vigyan Kendra, Raichur

University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur-584 102 ( Karnataka)

ABSTRACTThe performance of five type of weeders viz., cycle weeder, twin wheel hoe weeder, conoweeder, three blade weeder, and a local make designed by the farmers themselves were assessedand compared in direct sown paddy crop. The parameters of assessment included weedingefficiency, plant damage, musculoskeletal disorders,and cost economics. The results showedthat, twin wheel hoe weeders in DSR has highest percentage of weeding efficiency, highestperformance index, lowest plant damage and is economical to the tune of 60 per cent. Usingtwin wheel hoe weeder can destroy weeds by completely or partially burying weeds, uprootingand breaking the weed root contact with the soil. The use of weeders at 20-25 days after sowing(DAS) proved to be more beneficial than at later stage. The efficiency of the weeder was foundto be 0.3 ha./d/man labour day vs 20-25 women/d/ ha. The timely weeding and application offertilizers is ensured in case of weeding done with twin wheel hoe weeder, while the labourdependency and timely availability of labours is a major problem in manual weeding.

Key Words: Weeders, Direct Seeded Rice, Musculoskeletal Disorders.

during peak transplanting period adversely affectsthe timeliness of this operation, thereby reducingcrop yield.

Due to poor rainfall during last two years, therewas irregular release of water through canals whichmade the farmers to go for an alternative methodof sowing rice i.e., Direct Sowing of Rice.The dataon rainfall of Raichur district reveals that in theyear 2011-12 the actual rains received was 467.80mm and during 2012-13 it was 469.89 against620 mm. In such condition farmers adopted DSRas an alternate to transplanted technique of ricecultivation. The DSR is advantageous overtransplanting method in many respects i.e., laboursaving, promotes the soil health, saves water, savescost of fuel incurred towards puddling and thereby prevents the air pollution. It is the experienceof the farmers that, if planned properly, with theuse of pesticides the weed menace in DSR couldbe resolved i.e., by delaying the sowing by oneweek after the first rainfall or else with the use ofrecommended weedicide when sprayed at propertime. The farmers sow the rice when the soil isdry and after the rains the weeds and seeds


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00040.9

71

germinate together making the fieldunmanageable. Hence, weeds menace isconsidered as a major problem in DSR. Thetimely unavailability of agriculture labours is amajor problem in such conditions. The data ondrudgery aspects revealed that direct sowing ofseed results in expected outcome of thetechnology in the form of low draft requirement,labour saving , natural resource conservation ,better output/profits and less occupational healthhazards (Sucheta and Oliver , 2012). This factwas perceived as one of the problems analysedby KVK Raichur and an On Farm Testing (OFT)to assess the different weeders in DSR was plannedduring 2013-14. The present study was conductedby KrishiVigyan Kendra Raichur with theobjectives to assess the performance of differenttype of weeders in DSR , to assess the drudgery,to calculate the time saved in using each type ofweeders and to compare the cost of operation ofdifferent weeders.


Selection of beneficiaryThe beneficiaries were selected based on three

criteria (i) who are practicing the direct sowing ofpaddy, (ii) who are willing to participate (iii) whosecrop was about 20-25 d old.

Type of weedersThe performance of five type of weeders viz.,

cycle weeder, twin wheel hoe weeder, conoweeder,three blade weeder, and a local make designed

by the farmers themselves were used for weedingin DSR. Among these, three types of weeders i.e.,the cycle weeder, three blade weeder and a localmake designed by the farmers were collected bythe researcher and the other two types of weedersi.e., conoweeder and twin wheel hoe weedersfrom the Department of Farm Power Machinery,College of Agriculture Engineering, University ofAgricultural Sciences were used to assess theperformance. The performance was comparedwith handweeding method.

Weeding efficiency (WE): was calculated usingthe quality work carried by a machine in terms ofnumber of weeds cut uprooted and damage to thecrop plants while operation (Srinivas et al, 2010).

WE (%)= W1-W2/W1

where W1=number of weeds before weeding

W2=number of weeds after weeding

Plant damage (PD)Plant damage was assessed by calculating thenumber of damaged plants per M2 area whileweeding.

Rapid Entire Body Analysis (REBA) tooldeveloped by Hignett and McAtamney (2000)to assess the Musculoskeletal disorders was used.

The cost economics was calculated using the totalnumber of labours employed per day per 0.4 ha.in all the methods of weeding.

Statistical Analysis: Mean, frequency andpercentage were used to analyse the results.

Figure 1. Twin wheel weeder Figure 2. Cycle weeder


Kammar and Katti

72

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.The sample consisted of 30 farmers belonging

to age group of 25- 50 yr who were workingregularly in the field. The sample for hand weedingmethod consisted of 12 women farmers fromAnjaneya camp adjacent to Kasabe camp,Raichurtaluka. These women farmers belongedto the age group of 20 -48 yr. All theserespondents did not have any complaints of illnessduring the study period.

Figure 3. Conoweeder Figure 4. Three blade weeder

Figure 5. Local make weeder Figure 6. Manual weeding in DSR

Parameters Twin wheel Cycle Conoweeder Three Local Handweeder weeder blade make weeding

weeder methodWeight of the tool (kgs) 5 11 6 16 5 0.5Weeding efficiency (%) 88 80 - 76 75 94Plant damage (No.) 5-6 7-8 - 11 7-8 4REBA Score 4 4 4 10 4 14Cost of operation 600 800 - 200 800 1500 (Rs. /0.4 ha) (40.0%) (53.3%) (13.0%) (53.3%) (100%)

* The figures in parenthesis indicate percentage.

The weight of the weeders revealed that, thethree blade weeder has highest weight (16 kg) ascompared to all the weeders followed by cycleweeder (11 kg), which adds to drudgery to theperson operating it. With regard to weedingefficiency , the twin wheel weeder has the highestweedingefficiency (88%) next only to manualweeding (94%) as compared to other weeders. Thelocal make and cycle weeders had the weedingefficiency upto 85 and 80 per cent, respectively.


On Farm Testing on Assessment of Different Type of Weeders

73

Although the cycle weeder and the local designhad the little higher percentage of weedingefficiency (80 and 75 per cent, respectively), yetthe farmers did not accept them much because ofthe height and weight, the cycle weeder wasswaying with the blowing wind. The local makeneeds regular attention as the moist mud getsadhered to it and needs to be regularly cleared.Another hurdle as expressed by the farmers is asickle is essential to clear the mud which needs tobe tucked to the weeder which is an added weight(500 g). Thus the local design was not preferredby them. The conoweeder was not suitable forDirect seeded rice, hence the observations couldnot be made.

Results with regard to plant damage, whenweeding with different weeders revealed that,three blade weeder had the highest number ofplants uprooted/damaged(11no.)which is due touncertainty with blade, the direction of which isnot assured in matching all the tree rows. Thecycle weeder and the local weeder had the samenumber of plants damaged while weeding (7-8).Hand weeding had the lowest plant damage ( 4no.) followed bytwin wheel weeder.

REBA Score Risk level1 Negligible2-3 Low4-7 Medium8-10 High11-15 Very High

Rapid Entire Body Assessment score as anindicator of drudgery in weeding, revealed that,the manual weeding was the highest REBA score(14) followed by weeding with three bladeweeder (10) which adds to the aggravation ofWork Related Musculoskeletal disorders. Theweight of the three blade weeder and the adoptionof posture in manual weeding are the majorreasons for the increase in the REBA score. Restof the weeders had the similar REBA score whichindicates that, the weeding activity with weedersadds to medium drudgery level on the personusing it. The results are in line with the studyconducted by Ojha and Kwatra (2012), whichindicated that, the pain and discomfort with thelocomotive organs persisted in manual uprootingand transplanting activities.

The cost of operation of different weedersrevealed that, manual weeding was the costliestamong the all the methods. The availability of thelabour during peak season is added burden to thefarmers. Although weeding with three bladeweeders incurs only 13 per cent of the total costincurred towards weeding, yet it was not acceptedbecause of the weight of weeder. The cost ofoperation of weeding with twin wheel weeder is40 per cent as that of manual weeding. The localmake and the cycle weeders had the similar costof operation i.e., 53.3 per cent as that of manualweeding.

CONCLUSIONIt was concluded that the twin wheel weeder

was suitable for weeding in DSR when the cropis about 20-25 d with optimum moisture in blacksoil. The twin wheel weeder with L shape bladewas recommended for interrow crops' weedingand it churns the soil by uprooting the weeds. Thecost of operation was only 40 per cent ascompared to the manual weeding with REBAscore of 4 and with minimum plant damage(5-6)and weight is only 5 kg. The weeder with averageblade length of 8 inches was best suited for DSRwhen the interrow spacing is 25 cm. The studyimplies that weeders reduce the drudgery inweeding hence may be supplied along with theinputs at subsidized rates to farmers. Training oflocal fabricators to manufacture the weeders maybe organized. The agriclinic and agribusinesssector may take the manufacturing of weeders asone of their components. Weeders to suit all thecrops and all the inter row spacing may bedesigned to facilitate drudgery reduction and inturn reduce the dependency on agriculturallabourers. The gender discrepancies in wages maybe eradicated so as to facilitate the farm womento use these weeders.

ACKNOWEDGEMENTThe authors wish to acknowledge , The Zonal

Project Directorate, Zone -VIII, Department ofFarm Power and Machinery, College ofAgricultural engineering, Raichur, Univesrity ofAgricultural Sciences, Raichur for providingfinancial and institutional support respectively forthe conduct of the On Farm testing.


Mandavkar et al

74

REFERENCESHignett S and McAtamney L(2000). Rapid Entire Body

Assessment (REBA). Appl Ergon 31 : 201 -205.

Srinivas I, Adake R V, Reddy B Sanjeeva, Korawar G R, ThyagarajC R, Dange Atul, Veeraprasad G and Reddy Ch Ravinder(2010). Comparative performance of different power weedersin rainfed sweet sorghum crop. Indian J Dryland Agric Resand Dev 25(2): 63-67.

Kar S K and Dhara P C (2007). An evaluation of musculoskeletaldisorder and socio-economic status of farmers in West Bengal,India. Nepal Medical College Jr 9(4): 245-249.

Ojha P and Kwatra S ( 2012). An ergonomic study on humandrudgery and musculoskeletal disorders by rice transplanting.Stud Home Com Sci. 6(1): 15-20.

Sucheta S and Oliver H( 2012). On Farm Research (OFR) ontransplanting paddy: A "Best Bet" prototype for drudgeryreduction. International J Agr : Res and Rev 2(4):0000.available online at http://www.ecisi.com issn 2228-7973.



On Farm Testing on Assessment of Different Type of Weeders

75

Pull and Push Factors for Women Entrepreneurshipin Thrissur District of Kerala

K A SunandhaCollege of Cooperation, Banking and Management,

Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara, Trichur (Kerala )

ABSTRACTGender equality and women empowerment are not only fundamental human rights but centralfor the success of sustainable development. Women entrepreneurship is echoing this zeal of thenew millennium. With a descriptive design of the research, study on Women Entrepreneurs andManufacturing Sector in Thrissur District examined the characteristics of the selected respondents,features of their enterprises, and institutional systems which supported them. Sample size of thestudy was 200 respondents selected by random sampling method. Survey was conducted withpre-structured interview schedules. Simple statistical tools like means, percentages and indiceswere used to analyse the data.

Majority of the women entrepreneurs of the study were married and entered into entrepreneurialcareer after 30 yr of age. Enterprises taken for study were basically micro and small scale unitsworking for more than 10 yr under individual proprietorship by employing more females thanmales. Though there were many institutions to support women entrepreneurs, they lacked synergyin action. Respondents suggested an exclusive agency for women to integrate all informationand inputs at the district level. Women had been empowered but inequality still prevails.

Key Words: Push factors, Women empowerment, Entrepreneurship.


INTRODUCTIONWomen entrepreneurs are not a rare breed of

human excellence but their rarity hails from therare opportunity they get to excel and establishby overcoming social inhibitions andcorresponding ramifications in all spectrum ofpolity. Support of the society, institution andgovernment, a male entrepreneur naturally banksupon, may not be opened to a female entrepreneur.Of course women as a deprived group are alsoaccumulating more and more strength in everyage and emergence of women entrepreneursherald a new age of women empowerment. Originof women entrepreneurs in various sectors of theeconomy is a welcome change which needrecognition including serious studies to enableothers to pursue their path and society to offernecessary support. As such the key issuesemerged from the problem of womenentrepreneurs in manufacturing sector were thefollowing.

(a) Whether women entrepreneurs are subject ofa study because they are scarce inputs likemale entrepreneurs or not.

(b) Women in general in all societies are subjectto neglect and as such women entrepreneursalso have to face certain genderdiscriminations in manufacturing sector also.Apart from scarcity argument and gender biasinbuilt in all societies, whether the problemposed any other pertinent issues.

(c) Selection of manufacturing sector for studywas also a deviation from traditional womenenterprises and as such whether their realmwas only papad or garment making or theyhad stamped their presence in the state of theart techno-savvy industries/services also hadto be identified.

(d) Neglect of women entrepreneurs and womenenterprises were evidenced by their lowrepresentation. It demanded a closer


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00041.0

76

examination of possible reasons and correctivemeasures so that women could contributedirectly to the economic betterment of society.How far studies on women entrepreneurs,especially region wise and sector wise, canhighlight gender bias as a relevant issue to beexplored.

(e) The present state of women entrepreneurs andthe process they had undergone to progressdemand prompt perusal to identify thepromoting and preventing factors. How farthe existing institutional and support systemsat different levels of society like individual,family, institutions, governments etc. werewomen oriented?

(f) Study had to highlight whether women wereonly camouflage to cover male heads as realowners or genuinely daring innovators.

Women’s entrepreneurship in manufacturingsector needed to be studied separately for twobasic reasons. The first reason was that womenentrepreneurship had been recognized by the lastdecade as an untapped source of economicgrowth. While women entrepreneurs created newjobs for themselves and others, they also providedsociety with different solutions to management,organization and business problems as well as tothe exploitation of new entrepreneurialopportunities. However, they still represented aminority of all entrepreneurs. Thus, there existeda policy failure discriminating against women’spossibility to become successful entrepreneurs.This failure needed to be addressed by policymakers, so that the economic potential of thisgroup could be fully utilized.

The second reason was that the topic ofwomen entrepreneurship had been largelyneglected both in society in general and in thesciences. Not only that women had lowerparticipation rate in entrepreneurship than men butthey also generally chose to start and manage firmsin industries different than men like retail business,garment making, food processing, education, etc.Women entrepreneurial ventures were subjectedto lesser recognition and examination byassuming them as a subsidiary income source tofamily or social prejudice that such firms require

lesser skill and resources. A study of womenentrepreneurs could bridge the knowledge gapregarding the performance of entrepreneurialfunction by women in the small scale sector ofthe region who exercised their skill, values andmeans for their enterprises.

As such the problem of the study can beviewed as the present state of womenentrepreneurs in managing their manufacturingunits and adequacy of support they received atdifferent levels of society so as to know theirdegree of performance and pinching problems.The objective of the present study was to examinethe functions of women entrepreneurs inorganizing and conducting the businessenterprises in the manufacturing sector of Thrissurdistrict in Kerala State.


Sampling Method, Sample Size and Selectionof Sample Units

Women units registered with DistrictIndustries Centre (DIC) during 1991-92 to 2008constituted the sampling frame. The databasemaintained by DIC had been taken as the sourcefor preparing the population frame of womenentrepreneurs in the district.

Women entrepreneurs which registered underSSI/WIP units and working in manufacturingsector alone were selected. Multi-stage RandomSampling Technique was used for the selectionof the sample unit. From the list of entrepreneursof five Taluks (Chavakkad, Trichur,Mukundapuram, Thalapilly and Kodungaloor) ofThrissur District, 40 entrepreneurs each wererandomly selected from each taluka. Thus, thetotal sample size was consisted of 200respondents. Only those women entrepreneurswere selected who had been in the business for atleast three years of functioning of the units andsatisfied the conditions namely women who wereemploying their units with one or more than oneemployees were considered as womenentrepreneurs, manage the units independently,the units should be at least three year old andregistered and excluded self employed singleindividual.


Sunandha

77

Area of the StudyAs regards the geographical area, the study

was conducted among women enterprises ofmanufacturing sector in the Thrissur District ofKerala, South India. Information was collectedfrom 200 manufacturing enterprises, from a totalof 1604 registered women enterprises during 1991to 2008 with the District Industries Centre (DIC)Thrissur. There are 92 gram panchayats, sixmunicipalities, five Taluks, and One MunicipalCorporation in the district. The five Taluks areChavakkad, Mukundapuram, Kodungaloor,Thalappilly and Thrissur. The important factorwhich influenced the selection of Thrissur Districtwas the familiarity with the study area of theresearcher to the women entrepreneurs andfamiliarity with the people. These factors maderapport building and data collection reliable andeasy.

Period of studyThe primary data were collected from WIP

units and SSI registered units under DIC Thrissurfor the period between 1991-92 and 2007-08based on their performance up to 31st March2008. Collection of data was done during theperiod September 2007 to May 2008.

Sampling ProcedureData were collected through personal visits

to the home and enterprises of the selected womenentrepreneurs, with prior appointments for theirconveniences. In many cases, the priorappointments were fixed over telephone. Most ofthem wanted an assurance that the details collectedwould not be revealed on to governmentdepartments. It was found on field visit that halfof the selected units were non-existent and manyof those which existed, refused to co-operate withthe inquiry. Few were found to be entrepreneursfor the name sake and were not actively involvedin managing the units. Therefore it was necessaryto prepare a fresh list of sample size.

Fresh units of less than three year offunctioning were excluded. Care was also takento exclude self-employed women who did notgenerate employment to others as the presentstudy conceptualized entrepreneurs different from

a self employed person. Many of the entrepreneursstudied were found to have diversified other linesof business but most of them did not have separatebuilding or other infrastructure.

The study was mainly based on primary data.Primary data were collected for the purpose ofanalyzing the objectives like factors which helpedto start the enterprises, functions of the enterprise,and the support systems for women entrepreneurs.These data were collected from womenentrepreneurs spread over five Taluks in ThrissurDistrict.

For the collection of primary data an interviewschedule was used. The interview schedule wasprepared keeping in view of objectives of thestudy. Besides the interview schedule, personalobservations were also recorded. In addition tothis some key persons working in DistrictIndustries Centre were also interviewed for furtherinformation. Pretested structured interviewschedule was used to collect primary data.

Secondary data from journals, reports, books,and other published materials and reports ofDistrict Industries Office, Thrissur were also madeavailable and used. Relevant secondaryinformation and literature had also beendownloaded from appropriate websites in theinternet. The general observation and severalstudies reveal that two factors influence thewomen entrepreneurs in India.

1. Pull Factors: Pull factors imply the factors,which encourage women to becomeentrepreneurs. They include desire to dosomething new in life, need for independence,availability of finance, concessions ansubsidies.

2. Push factors: Push factors are those, whichdebar women to become entrepreneurs. Theyinclude financial difficulties. Responsibility inthe family, unfortunate family circumstanceslike death of the husband or father, divorceetc. However, the influence of this factor onwomen in becoming entrepreneurs is low thanthe former factor.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONExpectations or Ambition influences to start

the unit (Pull factors)


Pull and Push Factors for Women Entrepreneurship

78

Table 1 gives the average of rank of eachambition, which influences the idea to start a unit.Table shows the ambitions for starting a businessmay vary from person to person. When inquiredabout influencing factor for running theirenterprise, majority of the entrepreneursresponded “to earn money” is the most importantfactor while running their business ventures. Thisis the first average rank 7.7. Without to earnmoney or profit running enterprise seems to be incomplete and useless if the profit oriented factorlacks among the entrepreneurs. Second rankoccupied for the factor, a strong urge to do someindependent job which was 2.98 weightedaverages. To provide employment to others holdthird rank 2.39. To engage one self fully occupiesthe next average position of 2.09. Remainingaccounted 1.34 to gain higher social status. It isintended that providing employment andconsequently gaining social prestige emerged asthe factor.Table 1. Pull factors influencing women entrepreneurship.

Sr. No. Ambition Average rank1. To earn money 7.072. To gain independent 2.983. Due to encouragement 1.544. To gain higher social status 1.345. To engage oneself fully 2.096. To provide employment to others 2.397. To keep busy 1.278. Others 0.21

Source: primary data

Preferential rank was done by taking theweighted average of the ranks by giving highestscore to rank 1, second highest to rank two andso on.

Push factorsSome women were pushed into business by

economic circumstances, particularly. The deathof the bread owner in the family consequentlygiving rise to the need to earn a livelihood. Data(Table 2) showed the push factors influencingwomen entrepreneurship. It was evident that 4.5per cent of the entrepreneurs influencing the pushfactors that is death of husband. Womenentrepreneurs separated from husband 2.5 percentwas the another factor influences the enterprises.

Table 2. Push factors influencing women entrepreneurship.

Factors Number of Per centEntrepreneurship share

Separated 5 2.5Death of husband 9 4.5Health problems of husband 4 2.0


Compelling Reasons to start the UnitsThe data (Table 3) showed that unemployment

occupied the first rank with weighted average of3.55. Unemployment leads serious financial crisisin the family which forced to becomeentrepreneurs. Dissatisfaction with the presentoccupation so far pursued and planned to havetheir own unit (1.82). Diversification of economicinterest was the third rank (1.33). Any otherreason (0.45) included compulsion of parents,educated women to utilize their educationalqualification to start business.Table 3. Compelling factors influencing to women

entrepreneurship.

Sr. No. Reasons Average ranka. Unemployment 3.55b. Dissatisfaction with the

job so far help/occupation sofar pursued 1.82

c. To make use of idle fund 1.00d. Diversification of 1.33

economic intereste. Any other 0.45


It is true that internal factor is very essentialfor being entrepreneurial performance of womenentrepreneurs.

External Factors affecting to start the enterprise

Facilitating factorsMany people seem to believe that

entrepreneurs are born and not made. True, someare certainly born as entrepreneurs but it has alsobeen proved by foreign and Indian experience ofone and a half decade span that with the right typeof training and follow-up support and assistance,one can develop one self as an entrepreneur. Hereexplains some external factors, which influencethe entrepreneurial performance of womenentrepreneurs.


Sunandha

79

Table 4 shows average of rank of facilitatingfactors, which stimulated to start a unit. The firstrank accounted to 5.96 weighted average offinancial assistance from the State Government,financial co-operation, nationalized banks andother State agencies offered. The second rankavailability of skilled labour for business 4.95. Thesupport from family members holds third rank thatis 3.84. Two and five (2.5) weighted averagesgiven to those entrepreneurs facilitate to financialassistances from any source that ranked fourth.Next 1.75 average rank to assistance formachineries, financial assistance from banks 1.31,maintaining ancillary relations with large firm1.08, technical assistance from the govt agencies,non govt agencies 1.91 , allotment of plot\shed inan industrial area 0.87, assistance for sale offinished products 0.10 .In short financialassistance was very much influencing factors ofwomen entrepreneurship.

Technical assistance from the government andnon government agencies indicates the trainingfacilities given to women entrepreneurs. The righttype of entrepreneurial training helps to identifyand develop the natural, inherent and potentialvirtues of the human beings, which are lyingdormant. Hence, it is widely accepted thatentrepreneurship can be developed through well-conceived and well integrated entrepreneurialtraining programmes. Training Aids kits form animportant accessory to any trainer involved in

conducting entrepreneurial motivation training.Training facilities have lot of potential forencouraging women entrepreneurship.Withadequate training one feels strong and confident.Out of 200 samples undertaken for study, 134entrepreneurs attended various types ofentrepreneurship training progrmmes.

Motivational factors affecting to start the UnitFor a woman to become an entrepreneur there

must be considerable motivation either from withinherself or from others close to her. Without strongmotivation a women can not achieveentrepreneurship. In the case of womenentrepreneurs, these motivating factors have to beunderstood clearly to attract more women toentrepreneurship. Occupation and economicstatus of husband\fathers. These motivatingfactors have been depicted in Table 5.

It was evident from the study that the majorreason for starting the enterprise was the previousexperience in manufacturing industries, first rankweighted averages 1.74. Second rank for propertyinherited \acquired\ husband given weightedaverage was 1.30 and third rank occupied forsuccess stories of previous entrepreneurs (1.14).

Selection of particular units affecting to startthe unit

To know about the reasons for choice of thepresent manufacturing unit, a question was asked

Table 4. Facilitating factors influencing women entrepreneurship.Sr. No. Expectation Average rank1. Allotment of plot/shed in an industrial area 0.872. Financial Assistance 2.143. Financial assistance from state government/ financial co-operation/ 5.96

nationalized banks/other state agencies4. Financial assistance from private banks 1.315. Financial assistance from Family members/relatives/friends 0.976. Technical Assistance from the government and non government agencies 1.917. Assistance from the government agencies, non government agencies and any others 0.008. Assistance for machineries 1.759. Assistance for supply of raw materials 0.5210. Assistance for sale of finished products 0.1011. Maintaining ancillary relations with large firm 1.0812. Availability of skilled labour 4.9513. Enlisting the support of dependable 3.8414 Any other 0.62




80

to the entrepreneurs. Table 6 shows the averageof rank of each reason, which stimulated to chooseparticular line of industry.

Analysis of the data (Table 6) made it evidentthat the reason “easy to set up” was one of theprime reasons for selecting the present line of theirenterprise. Second rank 4.63 averages “relatedprofession or occupation pursed” and third interestin business average rank placed 4.36. Anotherreason “no difficulty in securing technical knowhow ranked four 4.16. Next reasons,subsequently to no competition 2.81, familybusiness pursed 2.37, high margin profit 1.95,availability of raw materials 0.05. Existence ofsimilar industry in the neighborhood 0.28.etc. Inthe case of selection of garment industry they saidit is easy to set up than any other industry. Low

Table 5. Motivational factors influencing to women entrepreneurship.

Sr. No. Factors Average rankA. Success stories 1.14B. Previous experience in manufacturing/ industries 1.74C. Property inherited/acquired/husband 1.30


investment and low technology were the reasonbehind selecting garment making units.

Financial factorsWhen asked about the source of financial

input affecting enterprises, majority of theentrepreneurs received financial support fromvarious institutions and persons. Hence thefinancial factors divided into two Institutionalsupport and non institutional support.

Institutional supportInstitutional support is basically of two types,

namely: i) Financial incentives, and 2) non-financial incentives. Financial incentives, theincentive in the form of money. Non-financialincentives means incentives in the form oftraining, guidance, marketing, facilities. Table 7

Table 6. Selection of particular units affecting to start the unit.

Sr. No. Reasons Average ranki. Easy to set up 5.18ii. High margin profit 1.95iii. No competition 2.81iv. Related to profession or occupation pursued 4.63v. No difficulty in securing technical know how 4.16vi. Existence of similar industry in the neighborhood 0.28vii. Family business 2.37viii. Interest in Business 4.36ix. Any other 0.42x. Availability of raw materials 0.05


Table 7. Source of finance.

Sr. No. Source of Finance EntrepreneursNumber Per cent

1. Personal Loan from Commercial Bank 61 30.52. Finance from Govt. Schemes/Programme 43 21.53. Relatives 10 5.04.. Self 22 115. Husband 49 24.56. Friends 15 7.57. Overall 200 100



Sunandha

81

indicates financial incentives receive to womenentrepreneurs from institutional and non-institutional sources.

It was evident from the Table 7 thatcommercial banks played vital role to stimulatingpeople to take up entrepreneurship. Thirty andfive (30.5%) per cent of the entrepreneurs availedfinancial and non-financial assistance fromcommercial banks. Banks have their variousfinancial schemes, workshops, awareness campus,motivations camps, and external support to theentrepreneurs, the security and marginrequirements. Twenty one and five (21.5%) percentof entrepreneurs from government schemes andprogrammes have played the major role inboosting up of their entrepreneurship rather thanother sources money.

Non-Institutional supportNon-Institutional support intended support

from family members\relatives\ self\friends etc.Further the Table 7 reveals among non-institutional support majority support 24.5 per centreceives from husbands. The husbands were alsoobserved as the second most important source ofmotivation to women entrepreneurs in establishingnew enterprises. Further, in our orthodox societywomen still depend most of the time on theirhusbands for taking such decisions were bigfinance has been involved. Sixty (60%) per centof the women entrepreneurs were registered theUnits, in their names, was virtually run andmanaged by their husbands. This arrangementwas most often necessitated by the concessionsand benefits that went with it.

Self motivation has also been a source becausewomen even in ordinary families have startedfeeling increased financial burdens, great

awareness towards their potentialities, standard ofliving and better education of their children etc.Eleven (11.0%) percent of the entrepreneursstarted their units by their own income. Seven andfive (7.5%) percent of the women entrepreneursreceives support from friends, 5.0 percent of theentrepreneurs receives help from relatives.

Entrepreneurial development which basicallycovers the areas of non-financial incentives is animportant promotional agency that has assumedspecial importance in the context of our policy ofbroad-based entrepreneurial cadre andencouraging entrepreneurship particularly small,medium and tiny sector entrepreneurs. Thus,incentives of financial and non-financial characteralso play a dominant role for fostering the spiritof entrepreneurship. For the success of anenterprise, the entrepreneurs have to depend notonly on their own initiative and hard work butalso on help and co-operation from otheragencies.

Motivating factors or family support affectingstarting of a unit

Budding women entrepreneurs of backwardregion find it difficult to sustain entrepreneurshipwithout active support of family and friends. Atthe initial levels of venture, women entrepreneurswho come out of protected boundaries for the firsttime are weak kneed, with low self-conscious andextraordinarily self-conscious need emotionalsupport from spouse, in-laws, and understandingchildren go a long way in energizing womenentrepreneurs. Help and support from the familyand friends also increase competence andmeaningfulness. Majority (92.5 %) of theentrepreneur’s received help from family members.Family members include husbands, parents,

Table 8. Getting help from father/husband/others.

Sr. No. Taluk No YesNumber Per cent Number Per cent

1. Chavakkad 1.0 2.50 39.0 97.502. Kodugaloor 1.0 2.50 39.0 97.503. Mukumthapuram 3.0 7.50 37.0 92.504. Thalappily 4.0 10.00 36.0 90.005. Thrissur 6.0 15.00 34.0 85.006. Overall 15.0 7.50 185.0 92.50




82

relatives, children’s etc. Only 7.5 percent revealedthey were not received help from family members.

It was observed from the table, familymembers are also always seen helping the womenin different ways for her business (Table 9). Incertain families other members like friends,cousins and their sons, every one irrespective ofthe ages, are seen helping in some way or the other.Most of the women entrepreneurs ( 63.5%) gotgood support from their husbands, for runningthe businesses. Husband and wife are the twowheels of their conjugal life. If they don’t getcooperation for any work, then success isimpossible particularly for a wife. When she getshelp from a husband she feels very encouragedand gets inspiration to do the work in a good way.To women the help of the husbands by helping inhousehold chores, by participating in the workconcerning kids, some outdoor work likepurchasing, works relating to bank and post office,and paying all types of bills. A housewife canonly do her business well if the husband is takinginterest in, how to develop her business more, howto get finance or credits and subsidies, and howto manage the payment of installments. Furtherthe table revealed that 15.5 per cent of theentrepreneurs revealed they receive help fromparents for running the businesses followed byself support (24 %), friends (5.0%) and relatives(2.0%).

Localization factors influencing to start theenterprise

Before launching a business, the businessentrepreneurs are mainly focusing on availabilityof raw materials to make their product,transportation, nearness to sell of their productsetc. It was observed (Table 10) that the availabilityof required shop and site is the important factorto start the enterprise. Twelve and five (12.5%)per cent of the entrepreneurs influenced bynearness and closeness to raw materials, 21.5percent of the units influencing transportfacilities\residence\labour availability wereinfluencing to start the enterprise. Majority factorinfluencing to start the enterprise is the nearnessto home (25.5 %).

Factors influencing societyWomen entrepreneurs get a lot of

encouragement from the society also. Somewomen run such industry which is directly usefulfor the working women, for example, making ofPapad. The working women get helped bypurchasing regularly from them. The producersprovide quality goods and are very sincere aboutthe satisfaction of the consumer. The society helpssuch entrepreneurs by recommending their goodsto others. Some groups of society are sympatheticto women entrepreneurs and are constantlyguiding and suggesting then in their progress.

Table 9. Family factor effecting to women entrepreneurship.

Sr. No. Motivator Number Per centa. Husband 127 63.5b. Parents 31 15.5c. Friends 10 5.0d. Relatives 4 2.0e. Self 28 14.0f. Overall 200 100


Table 10. Factors effecting Localization.

Sr. No. Factors Number Per centA. Availability of required unit/Site 43 21.5B. Nearness to raw materials 25 12.50C. Transport/ Residents/Labour Facilities 43 21.5D. Nearness to Home 51 25.5E. Not applicable 38 19.0F. Overall 200 100



Sunandha

83

Crucial factors of EntrepreneurshipThe data (Table 11) showed the most crucial

factor i.e., self confidence (24.5%) and hard work(21.5%) were required for the success of anenterprise .Eighteen and five(18.5%) thought thatsupport from the staff and support frominstitutions to be very important for the successof an enterprise, followed by financial factor 15per cent, some women were pushed into businessby economic circumstance, particularly, the deathof the bread owner in the family consequentlygiving rise to the need to earn a livelihood .Similarly, some women need financial help dueto separated from spouse etc. The other factorsinfluencing the functions of the enterprise weremarketability of the product 6.5 per cent.

Risk taking capacity influenced only 3.5 percent. To take risk of their funds can undoubtedlybe generalized as real entrepreneurs because oftheir risk taking characteristic. In short, we cansay that most of the entrepreneurs have receivedfull support and continuous guidance from theirhusbands. As many as entrepreneurs havereported that it was their family members and closefriends who urged them to start business andrendered financial and other support for thepurpose.

A large number of entrepreneurs werereported to have been motivated to set up smallunits by he guidance and financial support of thegovernment and its agencies and financialinstitutions. Majority of the entrepreneurs havebeen provided with an opportunity to attend theEntrepreneurial Development TrainingProgrammes” organized by these agencies which,according to the entrepreneurs have infused a lotof confidence among them to start business. Thus,a vast majority of the entrepreneurs have beenprompted to enter into business by their desire to

improve economic and social status and to do jobindependently and have go support, from familyas well as government.

Most of the entrepreneurs are committed totheir enterprise and are fully involved in thebusiness. Over three fourths of the entrepreneursdevote more than eight hours in their business.There are 94 entrepreneurs who work for morethan 8 hours per day.

CONCLUSIONWomen getting help from kids, husband,

family members and society. No doubt the helpfrom government is very well provided such asorganizing training camps, awareness regardingfinancial scheme, and information in throughmedium of propaganda of all such helps andschemes of government but the larger class ofour country is illiterate and hence properinformation does not reach to these womenentrepreneurs and the society surrounding themare not also able to provide any type ofinformation. So the government should revitalizeall the efforts that they do for the benefit of womenof weaker section and then become successfulentrepreneurs. Reasons stated by theentrepreneurs to pursue entrepreneurial career andthe motives behind running their enterprisesclearly indicated that they were confident, wantedto be independent, achieve something in life, andwished to utilize their skills, creativity, and theireducational qualifications productivity. Selfmotivation as a source of idea generation to set-up their enterprise showed their inclination andtheir firm determination for entrepreneurship.Their vision in selecting their present line ofenterprise proved their foresightedness and anindication of their aptitude for an entrepreneurship.


Table 11. Crucial factors for the success of Entrepreneurs.

Sr. No. Factors Number Per cent1. Support from family 37 18.52. Self Confidence 49 24.53. Hard Work 43 21.54. Finance 30 155. Risk Taking 7 3.56. Marketability of Product 13 6.57. Overall 200 100




84

Revival of Kasuti Embroidery Motifs inKnitted Kurties Through Computer Aided Designs

K Kaur* and D Kaur **Department of Apparel and Textile Science, College of Home Science

Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004 (Punjab)

ABSTRACTThe investigation entitled Knitwear product development using kasuti embroidery motifs wascarried out in Ludhiana city. For the selection of motifs and colour combinations panel ofjudges comprising faculty of College of Home Science, PAU, Ludhiana was selected. Threecolleges in the city namely Guru Nanak Girls College, Model Town; Khalsa College for Women,Ghumar Mandi and College of Home Science, PAU were selected for studying the preferencesfor the preparation of kurti. Traditional motifs of kasuti embroidery were selected, plates weredeveloped through Corel Draw 13 and shown to 10 panel of judges. After the selection ofmotifs, three colour combinations of each motif were developed and again shown to 20 judgesto finalize the 10 colour combinations of the 10 selected motifs for the development of design.After that two different design placements were prepared of the 10 most preferred motifs andtheir colour combinations. An interview schedule was prepared for the purpose of collectingdata from 80 female respondents between the age group of 20 to 30 years selected randomlyfrom three colleges of Ludhiana city. The results of the study revealed that majority of therespondents were graduates, belonging to nuclear families. Seventy per cent of the respondentswere aware of knitwear designs and 51.3 per cent aware of kasuti embroidery and 70 per centrespondents preferred to buy knitwear kurtis. Readymade kurtis were the most preferred kurtiswith medium length and V-shape necklines. Multi coloured combination was the most preferredcolour combination followed by two colour and three colour combinations. Skin, pista green,red and cream were the most preferred colours.

Key Words: Embroidery, Kasuti,Kurti,Computer-aided design, Revival.

Corresponding Author’s Email: [email protected]*M.Sc. Student, Deptt. of Apparel and Textile Science, COHSc, PAU, Ludhiana.**Professor, Deptt. of Apparel and Textile Science, COHSc, PAU, Ludhiana.

INTRODUCTIONKnitting is one of the most important

processes for producing garments that cover everypart of human body within a wide range ofgarments such as socks, caps, gloves andunderwear to upper and lower body garmentsvarying from T-shirts to formal jackets(Brackenbury 1996). The unique capability ofknitting to manufacture shaped and form fittingarticles has been utilized for centuries. Thoughknitted fabrics earlier had drawbacks in patterningand design intricacies, loosing the form etc., butnow the technological developments havesignificantly changed the scenario. Presently, timeis the biggest constraint for any application whichcan be effectively overcome by Computer-aided

design CAD where less time is required to achievegood quality product as reported by Anbumani etal (2001). CAD is the use of computer systems toassist in the creation, modification, analysis, oroptimization of a design.

Embroidery reflects the cultural traditions ofthe people. The best known embroideries of Indiaare Kashida of Kashmir, Phulkari of Punjab,Kantha of Bengal, Chikankari of Uttar Pradesh,Dasuti of Haryana, mirror work of Gujarat andKasuti of Karnataka. Kasuti is the traditionalembroidery of Karnataka state. As CAD isgradually taking momentum in the era of textiledesigning, so the present study was conducted todevelop the knitwear products using Kasutiembroidery motifs on the basis of consumers’


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00042.2

85

Table 2. Distribution and weighted mean scores (WMS) of selected panel of judges according to their preferences for colourcombinations of knitted kurtis (n=20)

Motifs Base Selected Order of preference WMS W Colourcolour Motif colour I II III selected

Bele Patti- III A Red, 11 6 3 2.4I A(M29) B Green & 7 10 3 2.2II 0.21*

C Yellow 2 4 14 1.4III

Murgi kamal A Red 10 9 1 2.5I A(M19) D & 6 4 10 1.8II 0.25*

E Green 4 7 9 1.8III

Bele butta(M2) C Magenta 15 2 3 2.6I CE & 4 9 7 1.9II 0.36*F Green 1 9 10 1.6III

Zondiga simbi B Blue, 2 8 10 1.6III Gflower butta(M22) F Green & 7 6 7 2.0II 0.19*

G Magenta 11 6 3 2.4I

Hansa asan A Red 13 4 3 2.5I 0.24* A(swan butta)(M11) B & 3 8 9 1.7III

C Purple 4 8 8 1.8II

Murgi butta IV(M20) F Magenta 4 8 8 1.8III 0.16* GG & 10 6 4 2.3I

H Purple 6 6 8 1.9II

Murgi butta II(M13) D Green 2 8 8 1.5III HF & 5 8 9 2.0II 0.19*H Magenta 13 4 3 2.5I

Bele kamal(M3) E Yellow 1 8 11 1.5III IG & 6 8 6 2.0II 0.19*I Cream 13 4 3 2.5I

Bele patti Border(M6) E Green, 0 5 15 1.3III FF Red & 14 5 1 2.7I 0.38*H Blue 6 10 4 2.1II

Bele asana(M1) A Purple, 10 8 2 2.4I AB Red & 2 7 11 1.6III 0.17*C Green 8 5 7 2.1II

*Weighted Mean Score-WMS *W-Kendall’s coefficient of concordance

preferences for motifs, colour combinations,designs placements and embellishments on kurtis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The study was undertaken in Ludhiana city.An interview schedule was employed to study thepreferences of 80 female respondents, agedbetween 20-30 years, for knitwear kurtis madewith kasuti embroidery motifs. The study wasconducted in four stages i.e. the first stageincluded the selection of traditional kasutiembroidery motifs. The second stage was theselection of colour combinations of the mostpreferred motifs. The third stage included theplacements of design on the kurtis and fourth stage

dealt with the preparation of kurtis anddetermination of consumer acceptance and costeffectiveness of the developed kurtis. A total ofthirty motifs were collected ,plates were preparedand shown to a panel of judges. Out of thesemotifs, the ten most preferred motifs and theircolour combinations were selected. Twentyplacements of designs were developed and out ofthese ten placements of designs were consideredfor the development of kurtis.


Identification of colour combinationsThe preferences of respondents regarding the


Kaur and Kaur

86

colour combinations along with base colour andmotif colour have been given in table 2. After theselection of 10 most preferred motifs, for eachmotif three different colour combinations weredeveloped. It was found that for the motif BelePatti III (M29,) from the three colourcombinations, base of skin colour and motif ofred, green and yellow colours with a weightedmean score of 2.40 was selected for the productdevelopment, for Murgi Kamal (M19) base of skincolour and motif of red and green colours with aweighted mean score of 2.50 was selected, forBele Butta(M2) base of cream colour and motifof green and magenta colours with a weightedmean score of 2.60 was selected, for ZondigaSimbi Flower Butta (M22) base of pista greencolour and motif of blue, green and magentacolours with a weighted mean score of 2.40 wasselected, for Hansa Asan (M11) base of skincolour and motif of red and purple colours with aweighted mean score of 2.50 was selected.

For Murgi Butta IV (M20) base of pista greencolour and motif of magenta and purple colourswith a weighted mean score of 2.30 was selected,for Murgi Butta II (M13) base of pink colour andmotif of green and magenta colours with aweighted mean score of 2.50 was selected, forBele Kamal (M3) base of magenta colour and motifof yellow and cream with a weighted mean scoreof 2.50 was selected, for Bele Patti Border (M6)base of light yellow colour and motif of green,red and blue colours with a weighted mean scoreof 2.70 was selected and for Bele Asana (M1) baseof skin colour and motif of purple, red and greencolours with a weighted mean score of 2.40 wasselected for the product development. The degreeof agreement among the judges was analyzed byKendall’s coefficient of concordance and wasfound to be significant at 5 per cent level in allthe cases.

Awareness of knitwear designs and kasutiembroidery

In fig. 1, it can be seen that 70 per cent of therespondents were aware of knitwear designs while30 per cent of the respondents were not awarewhereas, fig. 2 shows that 57.5 per cent of therespondents were aware of computerized knitweardesigns while 42.5 per cent of the respondents

were not aware. The fig. 3 shows that 51.25 percent of the respondents were aware of Kasutiembroidery while 48.75 per cent of therespondents were not aware.

Awareness regarding knitwear designs,computerized knitwear designs and kasutiembroidery

Details of the developed knitwear kurtisKurti D1 – This was a kurti in pista green

colour and the motif used in this kurti was ZondigaSimbi Flower Butta (M

22) and the colours of motifs

are green, blue and magenta. The neckline of kurtiwas V-shaped and it was a medium length kurtiwith full sleeves.

Kurti D2 – It was a full sleeved kurti withcentre panel design placement. The neckline ofkurti was V-shaped and the length of kurti wasmedium. The base of kurti was in magenta colourand the motif used in this kurti was Bele Kamal(M

3) with colour combination of yellow and

cream.

Kurti D3 – This was a kurti in skin colour andthe motif used in this kurti was Hansa Asan (M

11)

in purple and red colours. The placement of designwas at neck and sleeves. It was a full sleeved shortlength kurti with V-shape neckline. Knit designedpatch was used on the kurti.

Kurti D4 – Kurti D4 was a cream coloured kurti

with motif Bele Patti Border (M6) and the colours

of the motif were green, red and blue. It was a fullsleeved, A line kurti with V-shape neckline.Knitted fabric was used for the kurti and the designwas made on the flat knitting machine and wasattached on the knitted fabric. Braid of greencolour and lace of red and green colour was usedto embellish the kurti.

Kurti D5 – It was a full sleeved kurti withplacement of design at neck and bottom. The kurtiwas in skin colour and the motif used was BelePatti III (M

29) in red, green and yellow colours.

Kurti D6 – Kurti D6 was a cream coloured kurti

with motif Bele Butta (M2) of green and magenta

colours. The sleeves of the kurti were umbrellacut with knitted design at the top and the hemlineof the kurti was round. The design was on bothsides of the kurti i.e. front and back. Stone of green


Revival of Kasuti Embroidery

87

Table 3. Preferences of respondents for embellishment /decorative material. (n=80)

Embellishments/ Order of preference WMS RanksDecorative materials I II III IV VStones 30 10 13 8 19 3.30 I

(37.50) (12.50) (16.25) (10.00) (23.75)

Sequins 13 16 7 7 37 2.51 IV(16.25) (20.00) (8.75) (8.75) (46.25)

Hand embroidery 13 15 10 5 37 2.53 III(16.25) (18.75) (12.50) (6.25) (46.25)

Laces 6 14 20 19 21 2.56 II(7.50) (17.50) (25.00) (23.75) (26.25)

Braids 1 4 3 1 71 1.29 -(1.25) (5.00) (3.75) (1.25) (88.75)

Frills — 3 4 2 71 1.24 -(3.75) (5.00) (2.50) (88.75)

Ribbons 5 8 7 14 46 1.90 V(6.25) (10.00) (8.75) (17.50) (57.50)

Piping/ Binding 6 2 2 7 63 1.51 -(7.50) (2.50) (2.50) (8.75) (78.75)

Buttons 5 6 7 8 54 1.75 -(6.25) (7.50) (8.75) (10.00) (67.50)

Mirror work — 3 5 5 67 1.30 -(3.75) (6.25) (6.25) (83.75)

Glass tubes — — — 1 79 1.01 -(1.25) (98.75)

Beads 1(1.25) 1(1.25) 4(5.00) 5(6.25) 6986.25) 1.25 -

Figures in parentheses indicates percentages Weighted Mean Score-WMSKendall’s coefficient of concordance W=0.025* *Significant at 5 per cent

colour and hand embroidery of magenta colourwas used to embellish the kurti.

Kurti D7 – This kurti was in pink colour withmotif Murgi Butta II (M

13) was of magenta and

green colours. It was a full sleeved, A line kurtiwith cut at bottom and had round neckline. Theplacement of design was only at front.

Kurti D8 – The base colour of kurti was pistagreen, Murgi Butta IV (M

20) in magenta and purple

colours was used. The design was more at theback then the front and also on the sleeves. It was

a medium length kurti having V- shape neckline.Magenta colour stones were used on front, backand at sleeves inorder to embellish the kurti.

Kurti D9 – The base of kurti was in skin colourwith purple, red and green motif of Murgi Kamal(M

19). The placement of design was at neck and

sleeves. It was a full sleeved, V-shaped necklinekurti.

Kurti D10 – The kurti was in skin colour withmotif Bele Asana (M

1) of red and green colours.

It was a full sleeved kurti with V-shape neckline.


Kaur and Kaur

88

The placement of design was at centre panel andat waist level near side seam.

CONCLUSIONThe study revealed ten most preferred motifs

namely Bele Kamal , Bele Asana , Hansa Asan ,Bele Patti Border, Bele Patti III , Murgi Butta IV ,Zondiga Simbi Flower Butta , Bele Butta , MurgiButta II and Murgi Kamal were ranked one toten. The most preferred 10 colour combinationswere taken for selected motifs and skin colour wasmost preferred. Majority of the respondents, i.e.70 per cent were aware of knitwear designs whereas 57.5 per cent and 51.3 per cent of therespondents were aware of computerized knitweardesigns and kasuti embroidery , respectively. Itwas also found that 57.5 per cent possesscomputerized knitwear article and 70 per cent ofthe respondents preferred to buy knitwear kurtis.

Likewise, multicoloured combination was the mostpreferred colour combination by the respondentsfollowed by two colour and three colourcombinations. Stones, laces and hand embroiderywere the most preferred embellishments while frillsand glass tubes were least preferredembellishments. Regarding placements ofprepared designs for the final development ofkurtis, the respondents preferences for 10 finaldeveloped designs were P

1, P

3, P

5, P

8, P

9, P

12, P

13,

P15

, P18

and P20

. All the kurtis were accepted bythe consumers on the basis of suitability of designwhereas kurti D

4 was the most preferred kurti.

REFRENCESAnbumani N, Balakumar S and Kandharvadivu P (2001). A

review of circular knitting technology. Ind Tex J 112: 141-46.

Brackenbury T (1996). Knitted Clothing Technology. Pp. 2.Blackwell Scientific publications, London.



Revival of Kasuti Embroidery

89

Role of Women Fish Workers forFood Security in Assam

Deepjyoti BaruahLivestock Research Station

Assam Agricultural University, Hekra 781 127, Kamrup (Assam)

ABSTRACTWomen fish workers in Assam play a critical role within the aquaculture and fishing communities,roles that are often not recognized or supported. Women are particularly active in fish culture,fish capturing by traditional and indigenous methods and in postharvest fisheries by engagingthemselves as fish vendors. These women have to face several socio-cultural taboos who striveto earn for their family’s subsistence in rural areas. To ensure the utilization of their full potentialin profitable activities like aqua farming, it is necessary to provide capacity building support torural women, which will eventually lead to their empowerment and food security to theirhousehold. This paper discusses on the occupational status of women fish workers in the stateand the promising aspects in aquaculture and fisheries which can provide immense scope forimproving the livelihood of rural women.

Key Words: Women, Empowerment, Food security, Fisheries, Assam.


INTRODUCTIONIn Assam, fishing communities comprise

about 20-25 per cent of women engaged inaquaculture and fisheries. Inland fisheries in alandlocked state like Assam are especiallyimportant for food security as all fish productionthrough capture and culture fishery goes forhuman consumption. Fish is especially importantfor the economically weaker sections of thepopulation, providing a cheap and accessiblesource of protein and essential micronutrients(Baruah, 2014). Fish farming and fish harvestingprovides employment and livelihood to a largemass of people, primarily women (Baruah et al,2013). A large section of the population alsodepends on natural aquatic resources such aswetlands (beels), derelict water bodies etc. anddiversified indigenous fish species such as Anabasspp., Monopterus spp., Puntius spp., etc for theirlivelihood, employment and income. Fisherwomen are generally self-employed forming partof an unorganized sector and they face severalkinds of problems in the exercise of theirprofession (Shaleesha and Stanley, 2000).Attempts are been carried out to implementdevelopmental schemes and programmes by the

concerned Government and Non-governmentalorganizations for the upliftment of the ruralwomen and make the farming profession in amore organized manner in the recent times.

MATERIALS AND METHODSSurveys were conducted in the Kamrup and

Goalpara district of Assam during 2012-14.Investigation was made based on a questionnaireprepared by Assam Agricultural University amongthe women fishers, beel lessees, rural fish vendorsand rural housewives. Fish markets, fish landingcentres, fishing villages, daily and weekly marketsof the several towns and villages in the 2 districtswere visited and data were recorded.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe investigation reveals that the rural women

are mostly poor and illiterate and are thereforecompelled to involve themselves in agricultureand allied fields as a source of income. Thesewomen create some time in a day to look after theaquaculture and fish catching practices apart fromtheir daily domestic work. These women weremostly between 15-60 yr of age which shows thatage is not a bar for these women for earning a


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00043.4

90

livelihood. Some of the fisheries activities wherewomen fish workers of Assam are involved forensuring their food security were as follows;

AquacultureIn culture fisheries, women take participation

in carp polyculture comprising the major speciesCatla catla, Labeo rohita, Cirrhinus mrigala,Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Ctenopharyngodonidella, Cyprinus carpio and minor carps suchLabeo bata, Labeo gonius. Catfishes such asClarias batrachus, Heteropneustes fossilis and air-breathing fishes such as Anabas testudineus arealso reared in the aquaculture ponds. It wasobserved that the women counter-part has a part-time involvement in post-stocking managementpractices such as daily feeding to fishes, limingand cleaning of dykes etc apart from their routinehousehold activities. The pre-stocking andstocking management activities such pondrenovation, muck removal, digging, netting andfish stocking are mostly done by the male sectionof the village. This is because of the fact thatwomen are not accessed easily to different fishingcommunities to arrange the pre-stocking andstocking management practices without thecompany of other women.

In areas inhabited by scheduled caste andscheduled tribe people, the rural women folk areengaged with pig raising, poultry and duckfarming and cultivation of horticultural cropsalong the pond dykes. Generally, 4-5 pigs/bigha,65 ducks/bigha and 40 poultry birds/bigha areraised along with fish @ 1,000-1,200 fishfingerlings/bigha (7.5 bigha = 1 hectare waterarea). Horticultural crops such as banana, betelnut, coconut, Assam lemon, turmeric, zinger,cabbage, cauliflower, brinjal, tomato, beans, bottlegourds, pumpkin etc are raised on the dykes.Fodder crops such as hybrid napier, newguinea,barseem etc are cultivated for fodder purpose aswell as feeding to the grass carps(Ctenopharyngodon idella). The womenfolkreceive a profitable return from these farmproducts by selling fish @ Rs. 100-150/kg, eggs@ Rs. 5/piece, meat @ Rs. 180-200/kg, vegetables@ Rs. 5-20/kg, and fruits @ Rs. 30-100/kg froma unit area. Also the wastes produced from theanimals are suitably disposed off to ponds whichare utilized as feed for fishes and manure.

Fishing with low energy traditional gears andhand picking

Looking at capture fisheries, active fishing isgenerally undertaken by men, although a smallpercentage of women do take part in low energyshallow fishing (Figure 1). Fishing and huntingare some of the oldest profession among the ruraltribe people of Assam. Some of the fishing gearsoperated by the womenfolk were as follows;

(i) Hand picking from the paddy field, mud andpits: After the rainy season during September-October, the paddy fields are dried up and thefishes accumulate themselves in the deepestarea of the field. Fishes such as Noemacheilusbotia, Mastacembelus armatus, Clariasbatrachus, Heteropneustes fossilis, Anabastestudineus and Mystus spp are easily caughtby hand. These fishes are mostly used for selfconsumption and are generally not sold.

(ii) Pulling of water hyacinth (meteka tana): Thewater hyacinth locally known as ‘meteka’profusely grow in beels, swamps and otherderelict water bodies of Assam. During winterseason from October to March, air breathingfishes like Channa spp., Anabas testudineus,Clarias batrachus, Heteropneustes fossilis,Monopterus cuchia, and other small sizedfishes such as Nandus nandus, Colisa spp.,Mastacembelus spp., etc take shelter inside theroots of water hyacinth. Water hyacinths arethen very carefully and slowly lifted or pulledby hand to the bank and fishes are separatedfrom the roots. Catfishes fetch Rs. 150-250/kg whereas Monopterus cuchia fetches a priceof Rs. 400-500/kg in the local market.

(iii) Dewatering (khal sicha): Farmers excavatesmall pools or ‘khals’ at the deepest points ofpaddy fields or unused water bodies anddykes are constructed around consisting witha small inlet in between. Dewatering is donemanually during mid noon with a deviceknown as ‘shiyoni’ or ‘lahoti’ which is madeeither with split kerosene oil can and bamboosplits. Water scooped by ‘shiyoni’ is allowedto pass through a large bamboo basket knownas ‘duli’ or ‘jakoi’. Small sized fishes liftedalong with water are accumulated in ‘duli’ or‘jakoi’ which are mostly used for selfconsumption.


Baruah

91

(iv) Traps: These are conical, cylindrical torectangular or box shaped devices mostlymade of bamboo and are either temporarilyor permanently fixed to the bottom, theprinciple of capture based on leading the fishto enter, enticing or attracting to it but difficultto exit through openings preferably defendedwith non return valve or labyrinths. Some ofthe traps commonly used by the women fishers(Figure 2) are khoka (funnel shape), seppa(tubular shape) and darki (box shaped). Thefish catch is miscellaneous and are sold at aprice of Rs. 50-200/kg depending on the sizeof fish and local market conditions.

(v) Scoop gear (jakoi): This is a scooping devicewith triangular outline, made up of bamboomatting. The women operates the gear withher both hands and disturbs the bottom mudwith her feet, so that in trying to escape, thefish enter the trap. The gear is scoopedperiodically to remove the harvest. This gearis versatile among the women fishers ofAssam. Small sized bottom dwelling fishessuch as Mystus spp., Botia spp. are the majorcatch which fetches a price of Rs. 80-100/kg.

(vi) Push nets (ghoka and pah jal): These aretriangularly-framed, collapsible nets operatedby one women and the capture affected by aforward, horizontal pushing motion along thebottom of shallow waters by hand wading.Small sized prawns are the major catchalongwith bottom dwelling fishes which aresold @ Rs. 100/kg.

(vii) Double stick nets (tana jal): This is arectangular-shaped net with 1mm mesh sizeand stitched to two bamboo poles fixed to itsshorter sides. The gear is operated in shallowwater bodies, paddy fields impounded withwater, beels and other derelict water bodiesby two women fishers (Figure 3). Catchusually comprised of small fishes such asPuntius spp, Colisa fasciatus etc.

(viii) Hand lift net (porongi jal): This is a squareshaped net hung on two split bambooscrossing each other and fixed in the form ofan arch. The gear is provided with a bamboohandle which is used to facilitate lifting of the

net. The net is operated by hand or installedto shore. The net is dipped in water and aftera few minutes is suddenly raised by thebamboo handle. A single woman can operatethe net. These nets are mostly seen in operationduring flood and post flood situation in thestate. Small sized fish such as Puntius spp,Chela laubuca are its usual catch which fetchesa price of Rs. 100-150/kg.

(ix) Cover gear (polo): These are bell-shapedbamboo made entrapping device with anopening both at the base and the apex. Thegear is operated in beels, shallow water bodies,ponds, paddy fields, etc by women. The catchis comprised of small fishes such as Puntiusspp., to big sized fishes such as Chitala chitalaand Wallagu attu. Small sized fishes fetch aprice of Rs. 100-150/kg and the bigger onesfetch a price of Rs. 400-600/kg.

Collection of aquatic plants and fruitsMakhana known as Euryale ferox Salisbury

(Nymphaeaceae) grows naturally in wetlands(beels), derelict and marshy water bodies in lowerAssam along with many other aquatic plants. Thegeneral people of Assam are ignorant about thenutritious use of makhana seeds as a food item ormedicine. These seeds are mostly harvested bycertain communities from Bihar and export fromthe state for further processing. However, the rawedible parts of the seeds are harvested by ruralwomen to be eaten as a casual food especially bychildren (Figure 4). Other aquatic plants harvestedby women fishers for food are Trapa natans, T.bispinosa, Nelumbo nucifera etc.

Collection of molluscan speciesThe tribal population of the state mostly

relishes upon the gastropods and bivalves as adelicacy in their food. Several molluscan speciesbelonging to genus Bellamya, Brotia, Paludomus,Thiara, Indoplanorbis, Lamellidens etc wereobserved to be sold in the market by the localwomen vendors in the market (Figure 5). Thesewomen earn a substantial amount from the catch(Rs. 50-150/kg) and effort put behind the workfor sustaining the daily protein requirement in thefamily.


Role of Women Fish Workers for Food Security

92

Processing of fishFish processing is usually done by women

using traditional methods such as sun drying,smoking, salting and fermentation of fish. Ngariand Hentak in Manipur, Gnuchi, Sidra and Sukutiin Darjeeling and Sikkim, Tungtap in Meghalaya,Bordia, Sepaa /Shidal/Hidol, Namsing in Assamand Lona ilish are some of the popular traditionalfermented fish products in the region. Fish picklesare also prepared with small sized fishes such asAmblypharyngodon mola, Rasbora daniconius,Puntius spp. etc. As the water bodies of Assamharbours lots of small fishes which can be usedfor preparation of pickle, its propagation can betaken up to generate employment among the ruralwomen. These products are mostly home-madeand are used for self consumption.

Fish vendingFish vending is an age old occupation that has

been a means of livelihood for thousands inAssam. Unlike the maritime states of India likeMaharastra, Tamil Nadu, women fish vendors inAssam represents a minority in a daily run marketand engages in their trade in the following ways:

(i) Women seldom procure their fish directlyfrom landing centres where they are likely toparticipate in daily auctions of the catch,Instead, the women vendors buy from tradersand merchants or buy from the wholesalersfor resale at retail or local markets (Figure 6).

(ii) Women vendors also carry out value additionby species-wise sorting, size-grading, cleaningand ice-storage of the harvested fish. Fish aremostly sold as fresh fish which are stored inice boxes and sold in daily market in thelocality. Women are not engaged with door-to-door marketing of fish and rely on the malevendors for the sale.

Women engaged in fish vending earn asubstantial amount of Rs. 400-2000/day based onthe fish supply and special festive occasions.Women are thus the important contributors inaquaculture, fish catching, fish processing,marketing and selling the catch in Assam (Baruah,2014). They culture, catch and sell the fish andother aquatic eatables for money and food,contributing to household incomes and food

security and to the local economy. Their effortand contribution is however, often not recognized.Women fish workers operate as an important linkbetween fish producers and the consumers inurban and remote rural areas and enhancing foodsecurity in tangible ways (Salagrama, 2006). Inrecent years competition for fish demand andsupply from exporters and traders with greateraccess to credit and capital has however affectedthe overall access of women fishers to fish. Thisis coupled with the numerous problems they faceat culture and capture sites, landing centres andmarkets and the lack of access to basic facilitiesat these locations has severely affected their abilityto retain their important role in aquaculture andfish vending. Most of the markets lack properinfrastructure and basic market facilities for coldstorage, processing, selling booths, clean toilets,access to hygienic running water and adequatewaste disposal measures. Such facilities areessential for enabling women to engage in theiroccupation in a dignified manner.

Of the women who were investigated, 48 percent were educated to primary level, 15 per centto high school, and 10 per cent to secondaryschool, while 27 per cent were illiterate. The lowlevel of literacy was a hindrance to the adaptabilityof a technology as they are not accessed to mediasuch as television, radio, newspapers and readingmaterials distributed by the developmentalagencies in the form of leaflets, pamphlets,booklets etc. Much awareness is required amongthe rural women fish workers to cast away theirtraditional practices. They are able to learnadvanced techniques when transmitted visuallyand when given the opportunity and support toadopt them.

CONCLUSIONWomen fish workers play critical roles in a

country like India, catering to the food securityneeds of a diverse range of consumers. Steps needto be taken in a holistic manner drawing onavailable policy and legislative frameworks, andon the steps already being taken by State andCentral governments and their institutions, tosupport this important segment of the population.Existing gaps in policy and implementation mustbe systematically addressed.


Baruah

93

Some of the aquaculture and fisheries sectorswhere women can be supported to earn asignificant supplementary income and increase thefamily food security considerably are carpbreeding and culture, carp fry production andnursery management, catfish breeding andculture, aquarium fabrication, ornamental fishbreeding in backyard hatcheries and culture,integrated fish farming, net making and mending,fish feed preparation in small scale feed mills.Promotion of diversified value added fish productswould also accelerate the earning and employmentif government and non-governmental agenciesorganize self help groups and involve the ruralwomen in the preparation of value added fishproducts. By linking the women fish workers withcredit, technology, infrastructure, training andtrade, such enterprises can become a powerful toolin improving the livelihoods and economicsecurity of the rural poor.

REFERENCESBaruah D, Dutta A and Pravin P (2013). Traditional fish trapping

devices and methods in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam.Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 12 (1): 123-129.

Baruah D (2014). Indigenous bamboo-made fishing implementsof Assam. J Krishi Vigyan 3 (1): 37-41.

Baruah D (2014). “Aquaculture and fisheries in hilly regime ofArunachal Pradesh”. In: Indigenous fin fish species foraquaculture diversification: Current status and prospects inNorth-Eastern region (eds K K Tamuli, S Borthakur, B Phukanand S Baishya), College of Fisheries, Assam AgriculturalUniversity, Raha-782103, Assam. Pp: 150-157.

Salagrama V (2006). Trends in poverty and livelihoods in coastalfishing communities of Orissa State, India. In: FAO FisheriesTechnical Paper 490.

Shaleesha A and Stanley V A (2000). Involvement of rural womenin aquaculture: An innovative approach. Naga, The ICLARMQuarterly July-September 2000, 23 (3): 13-17.



Role of Women Fish Workers for Food Security

94


Social and Economical Empowerment of RuralWomen Through Self Help Group Formation in

Jaipur District of RajasthanSmita Bhatnagar and S S Rathore

Krishi Vigyan Kendra,Chomu - Jaipur 303 702 (Rajasthan)

ABSTRACTWomen play an active role in agriculture, a strong need was felt to organize them into a groupto bring out and improve their talent. The feedback obtained from the trainees of KVK sufficientlyindicated that the impact of trainings and knowledge acquired by them during various trainingcourses did not bear sustainable effects to bring about a desirable change in their standard ofliving. Hence, it was felt to organize the women and build a platform where regular interactionsmay sufficiently revamp their thinking and motivate their self-help spirit. KVK, Chomuemphasized the concept of social and economic empowerment of rural women throughformation of self help groups. The members were trained in specific technologies, based onwhich they were engaged in income generating activities. The savings earned through variouseconomic activities were utilized for meeting the needs of members. In spite of variousconstraints, the group could effectively function.

Key Words: Economical empowerment, Rural women, Self help group, Trainings.

INTRODUCTIONKrishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) at Chomu in

Rajasthan was established in the year 1993. Thisdistrict is known for highest literacy rate andlargest number of small and marginal farmers inthe state. Majority of the rural population isresource poor due to marginal land holdings. Theground water reserves are very deep and soils arepredominately light textured with poor waterholding capacity. Due to these reasons, the cropproductivity in the district is low as compared torest of the state.

There is a lack of initiative among the resourcepoor farmers/farm women for adoption of newagricultural technologies because of their habit ofshort term goal setting and low credit worthiness.As women play an active role in agriculture, astrong need was felt to organize them into a groupto bring out and improve their talent. The feedbackobtained from the trainees of KVK sufficientlyindicated that the impact of trainings andknowledge acquired by them during varioustraining courses did not bear sustainable effectsto bring about a desirable change in their standard

of living. Hence, it was felt to organize the womenand build a platform where regular interactionsmay sufficiently revamp their thinking andmotivate their self-help spirit.

Further, it was experienced that rural womenhesitate to take up any enterprise for which theyhave acquired training from KVK due to lack ofself-confidence, insufficient funds to start anyenterprise and lack of institutional support whenthey pursue it alone. However, these problemscould be overcome, if they were organized into ameaningful group, enabling them to run anenterprise jointly and economically through properdivision of their specialized skills. Financialindependence improves self-esteem but it wasrealized that despite the hard labour put in by ruralwomen in agricultural and household tasks, theireffort remains unacknowledged as they don’t havevisible income. Hence, efforts were made by theKVK to organize the rural women in the form ofself help groups so that they can start viableentrepreneurial activity to get additional incomeand became empowered.


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00044.6

95

MATERIALS AND METHOS

Formation of self help groupsIt was planned to form seven model self help

groups in a phased manner and the successfulexperience of these groups cast theirdemonstration effects on rest of the rural womento come forward to adopt this approach. Thesegroups were given intensive technical training bythe KVK staff to help them to learn new skillsand to develop mutual trust and confidence forstarting various enterprises. Intensive efforts werealso made to infuse entrepreneurial spirit, skill andknowledge among these rural women byorganizing various skill oriented, incomegenerating training courses in agricultural and itsallied activities. Members were made to save afixed amount from their income and deposit it ina common account maintained by designatedpresident and secretary of the group. The amountsaved was utilized by group members for meetingtheir entrepreneurial, consumptive or emergentneeds in the form of loan, from the group at a rateof interest mutually decided by them. The profitearned in the form of interest was equally dividedamong the group members. These groups wereorganized with the following objectives:

1) Forming a platform where group members caninterest and share/gain new knowledge.

2) Developing self-confidence among groupmembers.

3) Initiating any entrepreneurial activity and topromote the habit of money saving among themembers.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONSThe model SHGs formed by the KVK and

various enterprises undertaken initially by them

during the period 1996 to 1998 has been given inTable 1. Later on different other activities wereundertaken after making a general consensusamongst all group members.

Impact of self help group approachPresently, there are 276 women members

enrolled in 38 SHGs which are functioningsuccessfully with the active support of State Bankof India and other nationalized banks in the districtJaipur (Table 2). Reaching the rural women hadbeen greatly facilitated through SHG approach. Ithad given tremendous boost in improving theextension efficiency of KVK. The scientistsregularly interacted with the members on a groupplatform, which held in better adoption oftechnology and its further disseminating at microlevel.

Further, selection of trainees and assessmentof their needs, organizing training and follow upprogram had been greatly facilitated. Selection ofinnovative farmers who are more interested toreceive suitable technology rather than receiveinputs for front line demonstration had also beengreatly facilitated. Wider approach to innovativefarmers had definitely helped in identifying,testing and refining location specific technologies.Off campus training programmes, field days,Campaigns and other welfare activities organizedby KVK received better response through thisapproach.

CONCLUSIONKVK, Chomu emphasized the concept of

social and economic empowerment of ruralwomen through formation of self help groups. Themembers were trained in specific technologies,based on which they were engaged in income

Table1. Progress of model of SHG’S formed by KVK.

Sr. No. Name of SHG Date of Number of Enterprises undertaken initiallyformation members

1. Mahila Mandal Ramgatta Dec.1996 100 Garment making, dairy farming,potato chips making and candle making.

2. Mahila Mandal Sandersar May 1997 50 Dairy farming (Cooperative Mahila Dairy)3. Mahila Mandal Hasteda July 1997 32 Detergent making4. Mahila Mandal Malera Nov.1997 52 Fruits and vegetable preservation5. Mahila Mandal Tankarda Dec.1997 32 Candle and chalk making6. Mahila Mandal Ghinoi & Austi Feb.1998 62 Papad and Mangodi making7. Mahila Mandal Sardarpura May 1998 28 Garam masala making


Bhatnagar and Rathore

96

Table 2. Detail of enterprises taken by SHG’S.

Enterprise No. of SHGs Villages Members Developed MarketDairy Management 5 Sandersar and 100 Saras Dairy, Jaipur

Rampura Kheda

Vermi Compost 3 Sandersar, Malera 25 Vegetable cultivation for home consumption,and Chithwari selling of verms and establishing new vermin

compost units and sale of vermi compost.

Papad and Mangodi 3 Austi and Ginoi 28 Local Dhabas,Local shops and retail sale tomaking rural women

Candle making 3 Tankarda and Sirohi 19 Local market and local farmers

Chalk making 3 Malikpur 5 Private Schools and local shops

Garam masala 4 Sardarpura, 18 Jaipur Masala ShopsMasala FairLocalPreparation Shubhrampura, DhabasRetail Sale in Village

Jairampura andKhorabeesal

Stitching 15 Ramgatta, Hasteda, 45 Local cloth shop and wholesale dealersJoshiyon Ki Dhani,Kumbha Ka Bas, Ghinoi , Adagela Ki Dhaniand Chomu

Detergent making 2 Ramgatta, Adagela 36 For self useKi Dhani

Total 38 276

generating activities. These SHGs received creditfacilities from NABARD. The savings rangedbetween Rs. 50,000/- to Rs. 3.0 Lac. Thesesavings earned through various economicactivities were utilized for meeting the needs ofmembers. In spite of various constraints, the group

could effectively function. This approach not onlyimproved the economic well being of groupmembers, but also helped the KVK to revitalizeits activities.



Social and Economical Empowerment of Rural Women

97

Social Approbation Towards WomenEmpowerment : A Glimpse

Gulzar S Sanghera, Lenika Kashyap, Gagandeep Kaur* and Manoj Sharma**Punjab Agricultural University

Regional Research Station, Kapurthala 144601 (Punjab)

ABSTRACTA woman’s contribution to the mankind has been widely recognized in every field of life. Dayshave been designated for her role in appreciation of motherhood-the divinity to the mankind,her recognition as a person, her quality to man, celebrating the girl child, protection of womenin the society, happiness, joy and entertainment for women empowerment of rural women.Social approbation is must to execute various policies framed for empowerment of women.Using scientific information (women scientist Scheme) to improve the lives of women will helpunravel the vast amount of untapped potential as it equips them with a scientific outlook andlogical thinking ability which would greatly influence the mindset of the society.

Key Words: Empowerment, Social approbation, Laws for women, Science, Innovation.

Corresponding Author’s Email: [email protected]* Assistant Horticulturist, Department of Fruit Science, PAU Ludhiana.** Programme Coordinator, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kapurthala.

INTRODUCTIONWomen empowerment refers to increasing the

spiritual, political, social or economic strength ofwomen. Government has mainly followed thewelfare route with schemes and specialprogrammes for anaemia, maternal mortality,pregnant and lactating women, and credit, allreinforcing the women’s primary role as mothers.There is a need to see women’s role beyond thereproductive role towards their empowerment,which is possible only through economicempowerment. The National Policy forEmpowerment of Women, 2001 adopted in theNinth Five-Year Plan stated that the ‘Applicationof science and technology is vital for theadvancement of women (Kumar 2008).Technology will reduce household drudgery andprovide better working conditions for women,particularly in rural areas, with emphasis on theimprovement of the environment and quality ofwomen’s lives at affordable cost (Sangar 2014).Attempt has been made to compile someinformation specially dedicated to women likemeaning of girl/women in different languages(Table 1), some days dedicated to women,legislations and laws for women and womanscientist’s scholarships that may be useful towomen working in rural sector of society.

A. Social Approbation of Woman HoodThe importance of woman for man and the

society could be gauged from a famous quote fromHelen Rowland, “A wise woman puts a grain ofsugar into everything she says to a man; and takesa grain of salt with everything he says to her”. Awoman’s contribution to the mankind has beenwidely recognized in every field of life. Days havebeen designated for her role in appreciation ofmotherhood-the divinity to the mankind, herrecognition as a person, her quality to man,celebrating the girl child, protection of women inthe society, happiness, joy and entertainment forwomen empowerment of rural women and someother days related to or recognizing contributionsof women in various fields besides appreciatingwomen and related health issues. Some dedicateddays for women are given below:

Mother’s Day-Second Sunday of MayCelebrated in most parts of the world to

honour mothers and their motherhood. This daywas first celebrated by Anna Jarvis in 1908, forher mother in Grafton,West Virginia. Then shelaunched a campaign to make “Mother’s Day” arecognized holiday in the United States) (http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Mother’s _Day.


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00045.8

98

International Women’s Day-March 8International Women’s Day has been observed

since early 1900’s. It was an era of expansion andturbulence in the industrialized world. On the eveof World war 1 campaigning for peace. Russianwomen observed their first International Women’sDay on the last Sunday in February1913. In 1913,this day was shifted to March 8 and since then,this day has been observed as the InternationalWomen’s Day. In 1914, women across Europeorganized rallies against the ill effects of war andexpressed women’s solidarity. With time, this dayhas earned more importance so that it is nowobserved to celebrate achievements of women ineconomic, political and social fronts in the past,present and forthcoming possibilities (http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/International_ Women’sDay)

Equal Pay DayEqual Pay Day was originated by the National

Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) in 1996 to makepeople aware of the gap between men’s andwomen’s wages. It is also strongly advocatedsame pay to women for performing the same job(www.pay-equity.org/day.html?).

International Day of the Girl child-December 19

International Day of the Girl child-December19recognizes girl’s right and the challenges facedby the girls, especially child marriage, It aims to

support girls who are already married byproviding them with willing options for schooling,sexual and reproductive health services,livelihoods skills opportunity, and take care ofdomestic violence (http://www.un.org/en/events/girlchild/).

National Girl Child Day in India-January 24The Government of India declared January

24 as the National Girl Child Day. This coincideswith the day of swearing in of Madam IndiraGandhi. As the first woman to become Primeminister of India. This day is observed to take careof female feticide, domestic violence andmalnutrition of the girl child in the nationalinterest. (www.indianexpress.com/news/national-girl-child-day...today/1064208/?)).

Meena Divas in South Asia-September 24Meena is the famous cartoon character

conceptualized in 1991, in Bangladesh. She owesher recognition throughout South Asia being acommunication tool advocating child rights,particularly girl’s righto an education, protection,access to civic amenities and other services.UNICEF has developed the MeenaCommunication Initiative (MCI) aimed atchanging perceptions and behavior that aredetrimental to the survival, development andprotection of girls in South asia. (http://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/media_3287.htm).

Table1. Girl and Woman in different languages.

Sr No. Language Girl Woman1 Hindi Ladki, Kanya, Balika Stri, Mahila, Nari2 Indonesian Girl, Gadis, Cewek, Gadis yang, Anak perempuan Woman, Wanita, Perempuan, Ibu3 Italian Donna Ragazza4 Turkish Kiz ,Kizim, Kizin, Kizi, Girl Woman, Kadin, Kadinin, Bayan5 Latin Girl, Virgo, puellae, ouellam, puella Woman, Muliar, Virago6 Swedish Girl,Flicka, Tjej,Tjejen Woman, Kvinnan, Kvinna, Kvinnor7 Spanish Chica, Nina, Nina de, Muchacha, Girl Mujer,la mujer8 Portugese Dziewczyny, Girl, Garota, Damenina, Menina Mulher, Da mulher, Woman, Homem9 Romanian Fata, Fata de, Fetita, Girl Femeie, Femeia, Woman, Femeii, femei10 Polish Dziewczyny, Girl, Dziewczynka, Dziewczyny Kobieta, Kobiety, dziewezyny, Woman11 French Femme, Girl Fille, Woman12 Dutch Meisje Vrouw13 German Machen, Girl Frau, Frauen,Woman14 Russian Devushka Zhenshchina15 Ukranian Divchyna Zhinka

(Source: Google translate)


Sanghera et al

99

International Day for the Elimination ofViolence against Women- November 25

Violence against Women and girls is one ofthe most heinous crimes besides violation ofhuman rights. On this day, we pledge to fight outViolence against Women. The origin of this daygoes back to 1960 when the three Mirabal sistersfrom the Domestician Republic were violentlyassassinated for their political activity. Thesesisters were later known as “UnforgettableButterflies”, and in Latin America, it became asymbol of the crises of Violence against Women.Observance of this day commemorates their lives,recognizes and voices strongly against suchviolence (http://www,un.org/en/events/endviolenceday).

International Day of Rural Woman-October 15Rural woman are integral component of rural

socio-economic fabric. Observance of theInternational Day of Rural Woman recognizestheir role and ample contribution to enhancingagricultural productivity and sustaining ruraldevelopment a, improving food security as wellas eradicating rural poverty, per se. (http://www,un.org/en/events/ruralwomanday).

Provider Appreciation day in USA-Fridaybefore Mother’s Day

Provider Appreciation day is observed on theFriday before Mother’s Day, to recognize theservices provided and tireless efforts made by thechild care providers, teachers and other educatorsof young children, Observance of this day wasstarted in 1996, by a group of volunteers in newJersey (USA)(http://www.providerappreciationday.org/about/).

Amelia Earhart day in USA-July 24This day is observed to commemorate

achievements of Amelia Mary Earhart, anAmerican aviation pioneer as well as an author.She was the first person to fly alone across theAtlantic Ocean and for this; she became the firstwoman to receive the U.S. Distinguished FlyingCross award. She write two best-selling books like20 Hrs., 40 Min.:Our Flight in theFriendship(1928) and The fun of it (1932) abouther flying experiences.She also founded TheNinety nines, an organization devoted exclusively

to lady pilots. She was a visiting faculty memberof the Perdue University aviation department in1935.She inspired many women for choosingaviation as their professional careers. She was alsoan active member of the National Woman’s party,and supported the Equal rights Amendment. Shemet with a tragic end during a navigational flightin 1937 over the central Pacific Ocean nearHowland Island.

Role of woman as teacher’s in the SocietyRecognized as Teachers Day-September 5

A number of Days have been recognized tomake us aware about various aspects of womanand womanhood, their contribution to society,caring for the society and what is expected fromthe society for their protection and well-being.There is a need to recognize the importanceof woman as a sister, anda dedicate aday for this;of course in Indian culture this has been widelyrecognized as “RakshaBandhan” and“BhaiDooj”.

B. Legislations and Laws For WomenSeveral women-specific and women-related

legislations to protect women against socialdiscrimination, violence and atrocities and alsoto prevent social evils like child marriages, dowry,rape, practice of Sati etc are in existence. Therecently notified Prevention of Domestic ViolenceAct is a landmark law in acting as a deterrent aswell as providing legal recourse to the womenwho are victims of any form of domestic violence.Apart from these, there are a number of laws(given below) which may not be gender specificbut still have ramifications on women.

Equal Remuneration Act of 1976 providesfor equal pay to men and women for equal work.

Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 amended in1976 provides the right for girls to repudiate achild marriage before attaining maturity whetherthe marriage has been consummated or not.

The Marriage (Amendment) Act, 2001amended the Hindu Marriage Act, SpecialMarriage Act, Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, theCode of Criminal Procedure providing for speedydisposal of applications for maintenance; theceiling limit for claiming maintenance has beendeleted and a wide discretion has been given to


Social Approbation Towards Women Empowerment

100

the Magistrate to award appropriate maintenance.

The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act of1956 as amended and renamed in 1986 makesthe sexual exploitation of male or female, acognizable offence. It is being amended todecriminalize the prostitutes and make the lawsmore stringent against traffickers.

An amendment brought in 1984 to the DowryProhibition Act of 1961 made women’s subjectionto cruelty a cognizable offence. The secondamendment brought in 1986 makes the husbandor in-laws punishable, if a woman commits suicidewithin 7 years of her marriage and it has beenproved that she has been subjected to cruelty. Alsoa new criminal offence of ‘Dowry Death’ has beenincorporated in the Indian Penal Code.

Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1976 raisesthe age for marriage of a girl to 18 years from 15years and that of a boy to 21 years and makesoffences under this Act cognizable.

Medical Termination Pregnancy Act of 1971legalises abortion by qualified professional onhumanitarian or medical grounds. The maximumpunishment may go upto life imprisonment. TheAct has further been amended specifying the placeand persons authorized to perform abortion andprovide for penal actions against the unauthorizedpersons performing abortions.

Indecent Representation of Women(Prohibition) Act of 1986 and the Commissionof Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 have been enactedto protect the dignity of women and preventviolence against them as well as their exploitation.

The Protection of Women from DomesticViolence Act, 2005 provides for more effectiveprotection of the rights of women guaranteedunder the Constitution who are victims of violenceof any kind occurring within the family and formatters connected therewith or incidental thereto.It provides for immediate and emergent relief towomen in situations of violence of any kind inthe home.

C. Path Breaking Initiatives By Women inSugarcane Industry

Around 650 public and private mills areworking in India. Most of them are led by menand traditionally, the role of women in industry

had been quite meager not only at the managementlevel but even at workforce level. However, todaywe have about 20-25 women industrialists withinternational impacts. At the same time, thestrength of women workforce in the industry hasincreased to around more than 10%. Ms.MeenakshiSaraogi, Chairman, BalrampurChinnimills Ltd., Uttar Pradesh, Dr. Raj Shree Pathy,Chairman and M.D., Shri Raj Shree Sugars Ltd.,Tamil Nadu, Dr. Vidya Murukumbi, Vice President& M.D., Shri Renuka Sugars Ltd., Karnatka areamongst the few who have brought glory withsignificant positive changes to their respectiveindustries.

Ms. Meenakshi Saraogi, the Homemaker-turned-businesswoman transformed a singlefactory into a coveted Sugar Empire. She took thereins of company in 1982 when she was absolutelyclueless about the business. She began her workat field level with bone-rattling journeys onpotholed roads of Balrampur, one of the mostbackward parts of Uttar Pradesh, having virtuallyno industries, a low per capita income and poorinfrastructure; for educating illiterate farmers aboutfertilizers for raising cane productivity. The firstfew years were really bad for her with farmersboycotting cane, because they had not got theirdue of the previous year and much of their stockhad remained unsold. She guaranteed them thatshe would boy every stalk cane they grew and itworked. Ms. Saraogi visited the fields during thesowing and harvest season to discuss seed qualitywith farmers. She learnt to improve yields throughsoil and water management and organized thepurchase of best of the crop from 50 odd centresin eastern U.P. from farmers, three days inadvance, after which a bumpy 70 KM ride broughther to a purchasing centre.

At the industry level, her first step was to raisethe efficiency of the mill by promoting efficientemployees. She gave her employee 20% bonusinstead of mandatory 8.33% and paid all workersin the first week of each month, rather thanwaiting until the second week as allowed by thegovernment guidelines. She showed exemplarycourage in building scale through buyouts of newprojects and capacity expansion. Her purchase ofBabhnan Sugar (1990), Tulsipur Sugar (1998) andthe Rauzagaon unit of Dhampur Sugar Mills (2005)


Sanghera et al

101

added crushing capacity to 11000 tonnes per day.New Projects at Akbarpur, Mankapur, Kumbhi andGuleria, all in eastern U.P. contributed another31000 tonnes by 2009. Her company has alsodiversified into an alcohol derivatives and powerand has commissioned three distilleries, sevenbagasse-based power plants and integrated sugarcomplexes. She has also extended the integratedmills at Haidergarh, Mankapur, Akbarpur, Kumbiand Guleria produce sugar, alcohol and power.Over 28 years, she single-handedly builtBalrampur Chini from single factory that crushed1600 tonnes of sugarcane a day into a greatorganization with 10-mill empire with a totalcapacity of 73500 tonnes today. It is one of themost efficient sugar producers with an attractive14% net profit margins, the balance sheet is theleast leveraged of the top sugar manufacturers.

Dr. Rajshree Pathy, the Chairperson andManaging Director of Rajshree Sugars andChemicals Limited which is listed on the NationalStock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange,has three integrated sugar plants in the state ofTamil Nadu and one in the state of Andhra Pradeshproducing sugar, alcohol and by-products and co-generating electric power. Her company is majorplayer in the sugar sector with an annualproduction capacity of 3,50,000 tons of sugar, 35million liters of alcohol and export of 200 millionunits of electricity. The Union Ministry ofPetroleum nominated her to head the task forceto co-ordinate between the petroleum companiesand the ethanol manufacturers to arrive at aworkable solution for blending 5% ethanol withmotor spirit in 2005. Ms. Rajshree Pathy createdeach of her sugar factories into an invaluableresource centre for the dissemination of scientificagronomics practices. She identified the potentialof a sugar factory to contribute to reduction ofGreen House Gas emissions and establish the firstClean Development Mechanism (CDM) compliantsugar co-generation unit in 2005 and get inregistered with the UNFCCC (United NationsFramework Convention for Climate Change) andtrade in Carbon Credit under the Kyoto Protocol.She established a dedicated Research andDevelopment Wing, recognized by theDepartment of Scientific and Industrial Research(DSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology, GOI.

Exclusive women officers have been appointedto R&D and Farmer Training position todisseminate technology to the rural farmers.Women employees are appointed in the shop flooralso. The R&D Wing is continuously engaged infield testing new sugarcane varieties incollaboration with the Sugarcane BreedingInstitute and the Tamil Nadu AgriculturalUniversity. Her company has also adopted a novelSustainable Sugarcane Initiative (SSI) technologypackage for wider space cultivation, drip irrigationand chip bud method of planting with activesupport of the state government to promotemechanization and improve productivity withminimum inputs and wastage. She is recipient ofmany prestigious awards, the highest being thePadamashree by the President, Govt. of India. Shehas been recognized as “Global Leader forTomorrow and Woman Entrepreneur of the Year”by Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA),UK and Founding Curator – Global ShapersCommunity. She has also been awarded withRashtriya Samman (Tamil Nadu Region) and MostPowerful Women in Indian Business by BusinessToday.

Dr. Vidya Murkumbi has become a sugarindustry legend and is also referred as SugarQueen, First Lady of Sugar Express and BestBusiness Person. She has been the first womenPresident of the Indian Sugar Mills Association(ISMA), (2004-2005). She has also served two 2-year terms as President of South Indian Sugar MillsAssociation (SISMA), for the biennial term of1995-1997 & 2007-2009. Her entry in the sugarindustry created waves when for the first time,the cane growers and the shareholders set up asugar mills with 2500 TCD, with 11 MW ofGeneration in the share market where andinvestment of Rs 5000 by them appreciated to thetune of Rs. 12 lakhs over a period of five years.Dr Vidya has got seven sugar factories of its ownincluding two sugar refineries in West Bengal andKandla in Gujarat. Her industry is the secondlargest supplier to the fuel ethanol with a capacityof 110 million liters of alcohol. In addition, shecarried Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd. to the worldstage by entering into Definitive Agreements withGroup-Equipav for an investment of $ 600 millionleading to a majority controlling equity in Equipav,



102

one of the largest sugar/ethanol companies inBrazil, which have with integrated co-generationfacility in Sao Paulo State in South East Brazil,having continuous crushing capacity of 10.5million tons of cane per annum, in addition,Equipav has co-generation capacity of 203 MW.

D. Empowerment of Women ThroughScholarships

Inclusive development must involve womensince poverty is particularly acute for womenliving in rural households. There is a need toempower these poor women through science andtechnology(S&T). Science is the source ofprogress and the contribution of woman is vitalto its future. In India women constitute about halfthe population and in nearly all convocations ofour universities, women scholars are generally thetoppers. In recent years, they have also receivedthe maximum numbers of medals and other formsof academic recognitions; however, due to variouscircumstances and social responsibilities, theyhave been left out of the S&T activities further,which needs to be addressed. The problems facedare several but; significantly, most often the breakin their careers arises due to motherhood andfamily responsibilities. The options for carryingover the professional further women areunavailable and due to age limits andqualifications. In an attempt to provide morecareer opportunities numerous scholarshipproviders have created options specifically forwomen. The shortfalls are often attributed to thelack of clarity on the purpose of women’seducation in educational planning (Chaudhary1995).

Many of these programmes have clear goalsin mind, such as propelling women into maledominated fields such as science and math andpreparing them for leadership positions aftercompletion (Bal 2005). Such scholarships canbegrest news for women as they can help topursue a career that may not have originallyconsidered or to follow your dreams without takingout a lot of loans. Indian government has alsotaken a keen role in providing fellowships forpromoting aspiring women. In this regard, mainlyto government funding agencies DST and UGChave different category wise schemes for women

who want to prosper in their carriers. Under thewomen scientist Scheme (WOS) scheme initiatedby Department of science and technology (DST),New Delhi, deserving women between the agegroup 30-50 years are being encouraged to pursueresearch in frontier areas of science andengineering, on problems of societal relevanceand to take up S&T based internship followed byself-employment (Moza 2004). This endeavor ofDST has made an effort to give women a strongfoothold into the scientific profession as benchlevel scientists that help them re-enter into themainstream and provide a launch pad for furtherforays into the field of Science and technology.There are three different categories of scholarshipfor women under this science in both institutionaland non institutional modes. Under the institutionalmode, national and state level organizations,recognizes universities, educations and R&Dlaboratories are considered for grant while underthe non institutional mode, S&T based Non-Government, Voluntary and non-profitorganizations, working on social issues andhaving the legal status of a registered societywould be considered by the Department ofScience & Technology. These scholarships areprovided to those who have pursued in thefollowing subject areas: Physical Science/Chemical Science/Mathematical Science/LifeScience/Earth Sciences/Atmospheric Sciences orEngineering Sciences. A project proposal isrequired to be submitted in active collaborationwith an academic/R & D institution in the chosensubject area. The three different categoryscholarships under it are as follows: Scholarshipfor Research in Basic/Applied Science (WOS-A),Scholarship for Research in S & T-based SocietalProgrammes (WOS-B) and Internship for the Self-Employment (WOS-C).

WOS-A scheme is aimed to provideopportunities to women scientists (especially thosehaving breaks in careers) and technologists forpursuing research in basic or applied sciences infrontier areas of science and engineering. WOS-A will provide a research grant with an upper limitof Rs. 23 lakh (for Ph.D. or equivalent) and Rs.20 lakh (for M.Sc. or equivalent) for a well-defined R&D project proposal for a period of threeyears that includes the fellowship of the applicant


Sanghera et al

103

and cost of small equipments, contingencies,travel, consumables etc., while institutionaloverhead charges will be given extra. Theeligibility criteria considered for this scheme isminimum of post graduate degree, equivalent toM.Sc. in Basic or Applied Sciences or B.Tech. orMBBS or other equivalent professionalqualifications having age of 35 years at the timeof submission of application. Women alreadyemployed are not eligible for this scheme. Theamount of fellowship of such candidate will beRs. 20,000/- PM. Or women scientists having aPh.D. in basic sciences or M.Tech.or MD/MS, DM/MCH in Medical Sciences from recognizedUniversities can apply upto the age of 50 years.The amount of fellowship for such candidates willbe Rs. 35000/-PM. There is age relaxation of 5years for candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC andphysically challenged category. In this regard,attested copies of supporting will be required.Preference would be given to candidates havinga break-in-career due to family reasons and alsoto Ph.D./equivalent degree candidates. M.Sc./equivalent candidates may, however, be alsoconsidered who have a bright academic recordand demonstrable research experience in the formof publications, dissertations, patents etc. there isno last date for applying to this fellowship as thisscheme is open for all throughout the year. Toapply for this scheme, one has to submit fivecopies of neatly typed application (in single spaceand on both sides of the paper) in particular formatthat could be attained from the official website ofDST.

WOS-B scholarship is specially intended toencourage women scientists involved in researchand application of innovative solutions for varioussocietal issues. This scholarship would be madeavailable to the aspiring women scientists willingto work for the research, design, adaptation anddemonstration of science and technological skillsand techniques for improving the incomegenerating activity and reducing drudgery ofweaker sections of our society in differentoccupations, capacity building on the societalprogrammes at the grass root level etc. Theminimum essential qualifications are PG degreeequivalent to M.Sc. in basic or applied science,B.Tech in Engineering Science and MBBS or other

equivalent professional qualification having agelimit of 50 years. Preference will be given to Ph.Din basic or applied science, M.Tech. in EngineeringScience and MD/MS,DM/MCH in MedicalScience from recognized Universities. TheCandidates should also have working experienceand linkages with the relevant organization tocarry our research on R&D projects of societalrelevance. The selected candidate will be awardedupto Rs. 10,000/- PM (for post graduate in scienceand bachelors in Engineering and Medicine) asResearch Scholarships and a research grant uptoa maximum limit of Rs. 15 lakh including thescholarship amount for a period of three years tocover the cost of small equipment, travel,contingencies, consumables and institutionaloverhead charges.

WOS-C scheme aims to train women havingqualifications in science/ engineering / medicineor allied areas in the area of intellectual propertyrights (IPR) and their management for a period ofone year. Government is interested in retainingthe scientific talent of Indian women seekingscientific pursuits and keen to encourage womento work from their homes, enabling them to drawa good balance between professional anddomestic demands. The scheme is beingcoordinated and implemented by PatentFacilitating Centre (PFC) of TechnologyInformation, Forecasting and Assessment Council(TIFAC) on behalf of DST. The selection of thecandidates is done by an all India level writtentest followed by a rigorous interview. Selectedcandidates will be given stipend for one year.Training will include one month of an intensiveorientation programme on IPR followed byspecialized workshops and hands-on-training inagencies engaged in practicing of IPR.Thescholarship will be admissible for a period of oneyear and the amount of scholarship will be Rs.12,500 per month for candidates having MSc/BTech/MBBS/BPharma or equivalent qualificationand Rs.17,500 per month for PhD/ MTech/MPharma/ MVSc/ MS/MD or equivalent. Theeligibility criteria considered for this scheme isminmum of M.Sc / Ph.D. in physical sciences,chemical sciences, life sciences or allied areas; orBachelors or Masters degree holder inengineering, medicine, pharmaceutical science,



104

veterinary science or allied areas. A candidateshould not be more than 50 years. Selection willbe through an all India written examination andinterview. The written test will be conducted infour cities namely, Chennai, New Delhi, Kolkataand Pune under the supervision of respectiveCoordination Centres. Similarly, interview ofsuccessful candidates in the written test will beheld at these centres.

Post Doctoral Fellowship for women candidatesFellowship by University Grant Commission

(UGC) is to provide opportunity for advancestudies to women under the scheme head of “PostDoctoral Fellowship for women candidates”,previously known as “part time researchassociateship for women”. This scheme focuseson accelerate talented instincts of women inadvance studies and research especially tounemployed who want to excel further in theirstudies. The eligibility criteria for this scheme arewomen having Ph.D. degree in the relevant subjectwith publications, having age below 55 years forgeneral and 60 years for reserved categories (SC/ST/OBC/PH/Minority communities) and academicqualification of 55% marks at UG level and 60%of marks at PG level for general/open categoryand 50% at UG level and 55% at PG level forreserved categories (SC/ST/OBC/PH/Minoritycommunities). The tenure for the scholarship isfor five years. The grant will be provided fordifferent heads as mentioned: fellowship of Rs25,000/- PM for two years and Rs 30,000/- PMafter two years, contingency of Rs 50,000/- P.A.,10% of post doctoral fellowship to the host instituteand Rs 2,000/- PM for the escort member in caseof physically handicapped. The selectioncommittee will scrutinize the work proposalsubmitted under this scheme. All such government

women scholarships basically provide a platformto maximally utilize their skills, knowledge, andcreativity towards science leading to a step aheadin fulfilling their dreams. Such schemes initiatedby the government will motivate the womenscientists to excel in their desired fields, thereby,helping in development of the country.

CONCLUSIONRural women make significant contributions

to household production, economy and foodsecurity. Along with drudgery, they also faceproblems related to health and energy efficiencyat the household level. Science and its awarenessis the key to the growth of any nation, as itimproves the well-being of the population. Equalopportunities are essential for the economicgrowth of a country. Using scientific informationto improve the lives of women will help unravelthe vast amount of untapped potential as it equipsthem with a scientific outlook and logical thinkingability which would greatly influence the mindsetof the society. Empowering rural women wouldultimately lead to empowering the nation.

REFERENCESBal V (2005) Women scientists in India: nowhere near the glass

ceiling. Curr Sci 88(6): 872–878.

Chaudhary P (1995) Women’s Education in India: Myth andReality, Haranand Publication, New Delhi, pp. 27–48.

Kumar N (2008) Gender and science in India. Science &Technology, 2008 report, NISTADS, 2008; http://www.nistads.res.in/ indiasnt2008/t1humanresources/t1hr12.htm

Moza M K (2004) Luring women back to science – DST’s WomenScientists Scheme. Curr Sci 87(7): 852–853.

Sangar S (2014) Socio-economic empowerment of women through‘Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, 2013’ – themissing link? Curr Sci. 106 (8): 1074-1080.



Sanghera et al

105

Status of Women Empowerment in AssamParamita Medhi

Institute of Management and Placement in Charge Assam down town University (Assam)

ABSTRACTEmpowerment involves an element of control and choice in power structures that exist inhousehold communities, nations and worldwide. Women empowerment involves their right tohave the power to control their own lives, both within and outside the home and the ability toinfluence the direction of social change to create a more just social and economic order nationallyand internationally. Employment can be a source of empowerment for women as it providesfinancial independence and thereby identity in the society and power structure in the family.This study reveals the employment of women in Assam with reference to other states of Indiaas well as various districts of Assam. Demographic study gives us data about sex ratio too. Sexratio indicates status of women in a society. Education of women is the most powerful tool toget a respectful position in a society. From this study it is noticed that female literacy rate islesser than male literacy rate. The literacy rate of women also varies in different districts ofAssam. Although initiatives are undertaken for development of education, employment statusof women there is a need to create awareness to achieve the desired goal of empowerment inthe state.

Key Words: Women empowerment, Employment, Demography, Education, Assam.


INTRODUCTIONThe population of Assam is the highest

amongst all states of North East region. Accordingto the census of 2011, it is 31,169,272 out ofwhich almost 50 per cent is female population.Therefore development of women folk is of utmostimportant for development of the state. Womenempowerment is a term which is widely usedirrespective of strata of society. The World bank(2002) defined empowerment as the “expansionof the assets and capabilities of individuals toparticipate in, negotiate with, influence, controland hold accountable institutions that affect theirlives. Alsop and Heinsohn’s (2005) defineempowerment as person’s capacity to makeeffective choices ; that is , as the capacity totransform choices into desired actions andoutcomes. Empowerment is multi dimensional.Women’s empowerment involves their right tohave power to control their own lives both withinand outside home and their ability to influencethe direction of social changes to create a more

just social and economic order, nationally andinternationally. Women empowerment needs tooccur across women’s own lives, in their homesand communities, society and its structures,national and international boundaries.

The term women empowerment wasintroduced in 1985 at the third internationalWomen’s conference at Nairobi. Womenempowerment is related to gain control over theirown lives and thereby enhance their position inpower structure of the society. To gain controlover their lives it is necessary to developeducational opportunities, employment facilitiesas well as reduction in gender gap. The NationalCommission for women was set up by an act ofParliament in 1990 to safeguard the rights ofwomen. Education and employment are twoimportant tools to change economic and socialstatus of female and women empowerment in nearfuture as well as over a longer period of time. Sexratio is also another important indicator of womenempowerment in society.

DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00046.X


106

The objective of this research paper was tostudy women empowerment on the basis of thesex ratio as a demographic factor; education statusbased on female literacy rate, gross enrolment ratio, school dropout rates and employment statusbased on employment of female workers invarious sectors, female workforce participationrate, average daily wage rate.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe secondary data were used for the purpose

of the study. Data were mainly collected from thecensus reports of the Government, EconomicSurvey of Assam 2013-2014. Ranking methodwas used to find out the status of different variablesrelated to empowerment of women of Assam incomparison to other states of India over the years.Rank was assigned from highest to lowestperforming states/ districts for positive indicatorsand vice versa.


Sex ratioThe status of women in a particular society

can be studied from the demographic factors suchas sex ratio, infant mortality rate etc. It was noticedthat Assam’s position in sex ratio ( number offemales per 1000 males) in 2001 was 17 th (935)which has been changed to 15th (954) in 2011which is a positive sign for a nation. In 2001 and2011, Kerala was the state with highest sex ratioi.e., 1058 and 1084, respectively. The poorest sexratio was found in Daman and Diu (710 and 618) during 2001 and 2011, respectively.

The ranking of districts of Assam by sex ratioin 2001 and 2011 showed that Baksa (957) andMorigaon ( 974) districts were in top mostpositions , respectively. Sex ratio was found lowestin Kamrup Metro ( 853 in 2001 and 922 in 2011)followed by Dima Hasao in 2001 with 884 andDarrang district in 2011 with 923. It has beenobserved that over the decades sex ratio in Assamwas fluctuating but was found highest in 2011.Sex ratio has shown an improvement of about 2per cent from 2001 to 2011. It was also noticedthat out of 27 districts of Assam, 14 districtsshowed higher sex ratio during 2011 census whilein 13 districts sex ratio was lower than the averagesex ratio of the state. (Fig 1.)

The sex ratio in the age group 0-6 yr is thevital indicator of the future trends of the sexcomposition in the population in the state. Dataof 2011 states that child sex ratio is the highest inKerala (1084) and is lowest in Haryana (877) .Assam is at 13th rank (954) . Declining sex ratioof children is not a positive indicator for womenempowerment. Children’s sex ratio indicates thefuture trend of the status of women in society.Economic Survey, Assam (2013-14 ) revealed thattop three districts with sex ratio of children (0-6years) in 2001 were Diarrang (977), Nagaon( 975) and Udalguri ( 975) whereas Baksa (974) ,Udalguri ( 973) and Chirang ( 969) were attop three ranks during 2011.

Educational statusThe education is the most powerful tool to

bring a change in the status and to get a powerfulstatus in the society for female. It reducesinequalities and gender gap in the family as wellas society.

Literacy over years from 1951 to 2011The growth of literacy in Assam has shown

an increasing trend over the years from 1951 to2011. Data (Table 5) showed a clear picture ofthe literacy rate of female over the years whichwas promising one, but female literacy rate wasalways lesser than male literacy rate.Table 5: literacy over the years

Year Person Male Female1951 18.53 28.01 7.581961 32.95 44.28 18.621971 33.94 43.72 22.761981 NA NA NA 1991 52.89 61.87 43.032001 63.25 71.28 54.612011 73.18 78.81 67.27

Fig. 1. Sex ratio between 1901 to 2011 in Assam.

Medhi


107

Ranking of districts in literacy rate in 2011From table 6 it was evident that Kamrup (

Metro 88.7) , Jorhat ( 83.4), Sivasagar (81.4),Nalbari (79.9), Cachar ( 80.4), Karimganj ( 79.7)were the districts with high literacy both in maleand female. Chirang ( 64.7) , Darrang 64.5),Dhubri ( 59.4) were seen in the lowest side butfemale literacy rate wass lesser than male literacyrate . In Kamrup ( metro) in 2011 female literacyrate was 85.8 where as for male it was 91.3 and inJorhat ,78.2 for female and 88.4 for male.

Gross Enrolment Ratio Gross enrolment ratio of children in class I to

VIII of all the states of India was studied. It wasseen that total enrolment was higher in Manipur (151.6) , Arunachal Pradesh ( 146.3 ) , Meghalaya( 138.5) but lower in Assam ( 83.5). Assam was at27th position. Girls’ enrolment ratio is always seento be less than boys’ except in Meghalaya.

Drop Out RatesDropout rate was observed to be very high in

Assam than many other states of India which isan alarming indicator as lower literacy impactson women’s awareness levels regarding health,hygiene, technological developments therebyrestricting their possibilities to improve theiraccess to the available services for their well being.

EmploymentThe population in the age group of 15-59 is

considered to be active for discharging differenttypes of activities. According to NSSO surveyconducted during July 2009 to June 2010indicated that the population comprised of males(61 %) and females (64%) in rural areas of Assamas compared to males (59% ) and females (61% )in rural areas at all India level. Similarly, these

values were for males (66% ) and females (71% )in urban areas of Assam compared to at all Indialevel of 66 per cent males and 66 per cent females.The labour force participation rate i. e, number ofpersons in the labour force per 1000 persons inthe age group of 15 -59 years according to usualstatus (both principal and subsidiary status)approach was 865 male , 243 female and 542 bothfor male and female in Assam and at all India levelit was 836 male, 345 female and 596 for maleand female taken together.

NB: total may not be equal due to rounding off.

Source: Key indicators of employment andunemployment in India, 2009-10, NSSO.

It was evident that self employment was more inrural areas of Assam than other parts of thecountry.

Employment of women in organized sector

The employment of women in organizedsector in the state was 369.0 thousand during 2011which was 32.9 per cent of the total employment.In the year 2010, the number of women employeewas 360.3 thousand showing a share of around32.9 per cent of total employment (Table 6).

Source: Directorate of Employment andCraftsman training, Assam

Average daily Wage Rate in Rural Areas inAssam

It was observed (Table 7) that the averagedaily wage rate for unskilled labour as well as ofthe agricultural labourers showed a more or lesssteady upward trend. During the period 2001-03to 2011-12 the average growth of unskilled malelabour wage rate varied between 9 and 12 per centwhile growth of female wage rate was around 8percent. Thus, it can be said that there is alwaysdiscrimination in female wage rate.

Table 5. Distribution of workers (per 1000) by broad usual activity status.

Parameter Assam India Rural Urban Rural + Urban Rural Urban Rural + UrbanSelf Employed 705 490 685 542 411 510Regular Wage/ Salaried Employees 94 438 127 73 414 156Casual Labour 201 72 189 386 175 335

Status of Women Empowerment


108

CONCLUSION Empowerment needs to occur across many

domains i.e, women’s own lives, in their homesand communities, in the society, in national andinternational environment. Empowerment mustoccur along economic, socio cultural,interpersonal, political, legal dimensions. Womenface multiple barriers in terms of gender biasness,low wages, unequal access to education and otherproductive inputs etc. Moreover women need toface some more structural barriers due to economicdevelopment and globalization. The lower rate ofWomen’s participation in organized sector is analarming factor in economic empowerment. Thedecline in women’s workforce participation rateis a matter for concern and has implications foroverall economic empowerment. Women’sparticipation in income generating activities will

Table 6. Employment of women in organized sector. (in thousand numbers)

Year Public Sector Private Sector Public And Per centPrivate Sector Share of

Womenwomen Total women total women total in organized

sector2003 77.4 528.1 241.1 551.1 318.5 1079.2 30.0 2004 77.3 525.1 255.6 572.0 332.9 1097.1 30.0 2005 81.5 524.5 268.4 605.2 350 1140 30.7 2006 81.8 519.7 299 599.7 380.7 1119.4 34.0 2007 84.9 527 310.8 640.5 395.7 1167.5 33.9 2008 85.6 527.3 266.5 554.6 352.1 1081.9 32.5 2009 87.3 531.7 273 571.7 360.3 1103.4 32.7 2010 87.0 531.1 279.7 583 366.7 1114.1 32.9 2011 89.0 537 279.9 583.5 369 1120.6 33.0

Table 7. Average daily wage rate in rural areas in Assam. ( in Rupees)

Year Unskilled labour wages Other Agricultural Labour reaper and harvester Man Woman Man Woman2001-02 50.71 40.73 47.02 42.162002-03 52.05 46.5 49.21 47.472003-04 60.13 42.18 55.4 49.322004-05 63.9 49.18 59.27 48.522005-06 65.02 49.02 61.44 47.692006-07 68.09 52.61 65.46 53.882007-08 74.27 59.53 72.11 58.042008-09 82.55 66.76 83.47 66.62009-10 93.25 74.05 102.83 872010-11 111.66 87.21 136.66 92.112011-12 118.45 93.21 137.11 98.25

Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Assam.

lead to women’s empowerment as by havingaccess to resources a woman can improve herbargaining position, increase in self esteem or selfworth. Education is important to get employmentin organized sector, jobs in higher prestigeoccupational categories and in positions ofauthority in any employment sector. Therefore itis necessary to increase decent work andproductive employment with more opportunitiesfor women in different sectors.

REFERENCES

Alsop R and Heinsohn N (2005). MeasuringEmpowerment in Practice: Structuring Analysisand Framing Indicators . World Bank PolicyResearch Working Paper No. 3510. Available atSSRN:http://ssrn.com/abstract=665062


Medhi


109

Use of Improved Sickle for Drudgery Reduction inFarmwomen of Gir-Somnath District of Gujarat

Hansa S Patel , A O Kher* and Minakshi K Bariya**Krishi Vigyan Kendra

Ambuja Cement Foundation, Ambujanagar 362 715, District- Gir Somnath (Gujarat)

ABSTRACTMost of the works performed by farmwomen are tedious as well as time consuming. Also manyof these operations are traditionally done in varying body posture. The present study wascarried out with the objectives to evaluate the performance of improved sickle for reducing thedrudgery level and harvesting efficiency by farmwomen using newly introduced and traditionaltools. It was noticed that improved sickle resulted in higher harvesting efficiency than theordinary sickle. The rate of perceived opinion for improved sickle fall in the category of highlyacceptable tool as compared to simple sickle. The results of the study showed that improvedsickle was helpful in reducing the drudgery level in which physical tiredness was medium tolaw, time saving was 12 to 20 per cent and cost saving 10 to 14 per cent compared to ordinarysickle.

Key Words: Harvesting, Improved sickle, Farm women, Drudgery reduction.

Corresponding Author’s Email: [email protected]* Ex Deputy Director of Extension Education, Junagarg Agricultural University, Junagadh** SMS ( Home Science) KVK, Junagadh Agricultural University, Pipalia (Dhoraji), Gujarat.

INTRODUCTIONAgriculture is an important unorganized

sector where majority of the women labour forceis engaged either in their own field or in the fieldsof other farmers. The various agricultural farmoperations like weeding, cutting, uprooting,picking, transplanting, removal of stalks andstubbles and threshing performed by farm womenresult in maximum drudgery. Harvesting isperceived as the drudgery prone task in agriculturedomain. It accumulates load of work onfarmwomen during peak seasonal period. Therelated work, nature and tools used by farmwomenin agriculture are also some of the importantreasons to lower down the productivity andincrease in health hazards.

Most of the works performed by farmwomanare tedious as well as time consuming. Also manyof these operations are traditionally done invarying body postures, which if done for longduration causes inconvenience and body pain. Theharvesting of cereal crops in India is mostly donemanually by sickles. Though combine harvestersare being introduced for harvesting of cereal cropsbut more than 90 per cent area is still harvested

manually by sickles. There is large variation inthe types of sickles being used in different partsof the country. Mostly, the sickles are made byvillage artisans with wide variation in shapes andsizes. The serrated sickle introduced by CentralInstitute of Agricultural Engineering (CIAE),Bhopal consists of a steel blade with specialserration and a special handle that makes operationof the sickle easy and comfortable compared tothe traditional sickle. The good quality steel usedand the special serration gives better cutting inboth dry and green crops. The special shape ofthe handle gives protection of fingers from gettingrubbed to the soil or stubbles. The sickles havebeen found very useful for harvesting wheat, rice,fodder and other crops that do not have woodystem.

The ordinary sickle being used for harvestingthe fodder grasses is very simple and the designhas not been changed for years. As a result, thesesickles are very rough to handle and gives poorworking efficiency. Therefore, a need was felt tostudy the strength, weakness, opportunity andthreat (SWOT) analysis of improved sickle andtheir impact on farm women health. Hence, the


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00047.1

110

present study was undertaken with the objectiveto evaluate the harvesting efficiency of improvedsickle and performance evaluation of harvestingactivity performed by farmwomen using newlyintroduced and traditional tools.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe Front line demonstrations were conducted

in six villages of 4 talukas during last five years(2010-11 to 2014-15 ). The Una, Talala andSutrapda talukas are far away from the JunagadhAgricultural University, Junagadh. Therefore, itis most ignored area and till now no work hasbeen done for transfer of technology tofarmwomen community by any extension agency.The participants from theses villages were selectedon the basis of land holding in to landless , smalland marginal farm women.

The study was conducted in the villagesnamely Navagam Vadi Vistar (Kodinar Taluka),Kanakiya and Kaneri (Una Taluka), Pikhor ( TalalaTaluka) and Gangetha and Rangpur (SutrapadaTaluka). A total of 100 farm women , 50 underdemonstration and 50 as local check were takenfor this study. In the demonstration group, serratedsickles developed by CIAE, Bhopal were providedwhereas traditional sickles were used in localcheck group. The various parameters recordedwere time taken for harvesting per hectare of areaunder different crops, cost of operations and levelof drudgery.

The trainings were organized to farmwomen’sgroup/ beneficiaries with the objectives ofimparting knowledge and skill of improved farmtools along with gaining confidence towards theirparticipation in sustainable development of otheraspects also. After completion of the propertraining, the participants were fully motivated foruse of improved sickle but being extremely poorand having no outside support especially in thecase of landless labourers, they showed inabilityto purchase it and thus needed financial support.Then to encourage and disseminate thetechnology of using improved farm tools, KrishiVigyan Kendra-Junagadh arranged improvedsickles for harvesting of fodder as well as othercrops under demonstrations.


Potential of improved sickle for fodderharvesting

SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunitiesand threats) analysis for use of improved sicklein fodder harvesting by farmwomen in Junagadhdistrict is presented in Table 1. It indicates thatuse of serrated sickle by farmwomen forharvesting of fodder crop could be a usefulimplement and found reduction in drudgery offarmwomen with increased output including otheradvantages like; harvesting of other various crops,time saving, more income per unit of time andnot require the sharpening of cutting edgefrequently. This indicates better possibilities ofadoption of the same as drudgery reduction toolfor farmwomen empowerment.Table 1. SWOT analysis for harvesting of crop by using of

improved/ serrated sickle.

Strengths ● Ferrule and wooden handle● Less weight● Less fatigue on wrist● Serrated blade

Weaknesses ● Pressure as on specific time● Unawareness and unavailability of

improved implements forharvesting

Opportunities ● A good tool for farmwomenempowerment

● Useful in harvesting of variouscrops

● Time saving more income per unittime

● Does not require the sharpening ofcutting edge frequently

● Require to develop at localmanufacturers

Threats ● Exploitation of farmwomen bymiddle men during purchasing ofimproved tools

● Very high rates● Poor care & management by

farmwomen lead to reduceefficiency by serrated blade

Creating awareness and developing desireFarmers/ farmwomen are not always aware of

the improvements they could make by usingscientific and technological knowledge. Thus, theattention of farmwomen was directed towards the


Patel et al

111

women friendly improved farm tools especiallyof improved sickle by conducting informalmeetings and discussion with them. Their interestwas stimulated by explaining them how it couldcontribute towards their drudgery reduction. Thisinterest was later transferred into desire bycontinuous persuasions and motivation for use ofthe same.

Drudgery ReductionIt was observed that during the fodder cutting,

all farmwomen were bending in position and nonewas squatting. However, the bend position duringlonger periods of work might lead to tensing ofcertain muscles and thus resulted in quicker astiredness and soreness (Pheasant, 1991). To reducethese feelings, farmers/farmwomen occasionallystand upright or sharpen their sickles which resultin wastage of time.

The data in Table 2 showed per cent savingof time in harvesting with the use of serrated sickleover the traditional sickle. Similarly, economicalbenefit was also observed due to the reason thatordinary sickle requires more grinding/sharpingfrequency compared to serrated sickle. Thesefindings were in agreement with those reportedby Patel et al (2013). In addition to this, traditionalsickle is not comfortable for the users as sometimesthe fingers as well as lower portion of the handget rubbed with the soil and pain occurs. On theother hand, the design of serrated sickle is muchfarmer friendly and does not result in any damageto the worker. Hence, it reduces the drudgeryamongst the farmwomen while working in thefields. According to Kulkarni and Sirohi (1985),the sharpened part of sickle is the most importantfactor affecting the working capacity of farmersand the handle determining the convenience inusing this tool may also have an indirect effect on

working capacity. Likewise, Sen and Chakrabarti(1989) stated that the use of serrated sickles mayimprove working efficiency. The present findingswere, thus, in agreement with these workers.

In the year 2010-11, front line demonstrationswere laid out in Kaneri village of Una Taluka for10 farmwomen. They were selected randomly forthe inputs to them for harvesting purpose. Theserrated sickle cost was Rs. 60/- per piece and noneed of serration up to 2 years purchased fromCIAE, Bhopal. While, simple/deshi sickle wasavailable at local market at a cost of Rs.55- 65/-.but Deshi sickle requires 3-4 times sharpening.The results showed that improved sickle resultedin higher field capacity compared to traditionalsickle. The average time consumption with deshisickle was recorded as 25.6 hr/ ha while inimproved sickle it was 20.6 hr/ ha . So, finallytime saving was found as 19.5 per cent. In thedeshi sickles, during harvesting three to four timesharpening is necessary but in improved sickleup to two years no need of serration is required.

In the year 2011-12, 10 per cent saving in thecost and 23.9 per cent in time was recorded withserrated sickle over the traditional sickle whereasduring the year 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15,the results indicated as cost saving of 10.0, 9.1and 14.3 per cent and time saving in harvestingto the extent of 16.1, 12.5 and 20.6 per cent,respectively. It was also observed during thecourse of investigation that respondents were usingtraditional sickle while harvesting the crops anddue to its more weight, it reduced the efficiencyof the operator as well as caused cuts on fingersand pain in the wrist as well as hands whereas, inthe case of serrated sickle/improved sicklebecomes relevant for more efficient and timesaving over traditional.

Table 2. Performance of the serrated sickle v/s local sickle.

Year Cost of operation ( Rs) Time consumed (hr/ha)Local Improved Cost Saving Local Improved Time SavingSickle Sickle (%) Sickle Sickle (%)

2010-11 50 45 10.0 25.6 20.6 19.52011-12 50 45 10.0 25.6 20.6 23.92012-13 60 55 10.0 24.9 20.9 16.12013-14 60 55 09.1 23.0 20.5 12.52014-15 70 60 14.3 26.3 20.8 20.6


Use of Improved Sickle for Drudgery Reduction

112

CONCLUSIONIt can be concluded that serrated sickle was

found effective in reducing the drudgery to thefarm women. It has also reduced the health hazardsalong with saving in their time and energy ofmajority of respondents. Most of the farm womenperceived these implements as most feasibletechnology. It was suggested that other hand toolsand implements should also be made easilyaccessible for them.

REFERENCESPatel H S, Rajawat B S and Bariya M K (2013). Comparative

performance of serrated v/s ordinary sickle used by rural farmwomen in Junagarh District of Gujarat. J Krishi Vigyan 2 (1): 82-83.

Kulkarni S D and Sirohi B S(1985). sickle handle and its impacton performance efficiency of a work for crop harvesting. AgriEngg Today: 23-27

Pheasant S (1991). Ergonomics, work and Health. Mac millanPress: pp.261-267.

Sen R N and Chakraberti D (1989). An ergonomics study ofsickle designs for a reaping task in Indian agriculture.Proceeding of the Ergonomics Society Annual Conference.Taylor and Francis Ltd. London.



Patel et al

113

Women Empowerment as a Component of SocialResponsibility in Participatory Varietal Selection

Parvaze A SofiFaculty of Agriculture, Wadura, 193201

Sher -e- Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology-Kashmir(Jammu & Kashmir)

ABSTRACTRural women are key agents for achieving the transformation in terms of economic,environmental and social changes required for sustainable development. However, in developingcountries women face a multitude of problems which an otherwise gender blind approachoften fails to appreciate or even identify. The unpredictable social, political, economical andpersonal hardships they face daily are difficult to grasp. The participatory approaches findrelevance in a way that they give appropriate weightage to gender differences and recognizethe fact that needs of men and women are invariably different. The varietal development processalso needs to be integrated into a holistic programme instead a compartmentalised activitywhere plant scientists, farming system experts, economists, extension persons, farmers andconsumers are equally conscious to and contribute through their capacities towards developmentof varieties that meet the aspirations of small holder farmers in terms of productivityenhancement and livelihood security.

Key Words: Participatory varietal selection, Women empowerment, Rural appraisal.


INTRODUCTIONA critical appraisal of the various national and

international breeding programmes reveals thateven though the time period for productdevelopment has remained more or less same, theproduct life has declined significantly due to rapidchanges in consumer preferences, climaticregimes, and pattern of distribution of stresses.Even more disgusting feature of recent plantbreeding programmes has been that by the time avariety is developed and ready for release, it haslost its relevance resulting in little or absolutelyno adoption. A major factor for such a situation isthat entire process of variety development iscentralised and breeder dictated with little or noinvolvement of different stakeholders especiallythe farmers.

Participatory approach to research isbecoming increasingly recognized as a valuablecomponent of technology generation forheterogeneous agricultural zones where povertyis common. Plant breeding has invariably targeted

favourable environments or a broad range ofenvironments and in doing so has neglected small-holder farming systems with minimal inputsupport as well as complex and heterogenousconstraints. Plant breeding programmes, in whichfarmers select germplasm for their particularenvironmental niches, offer the hope of providingwell-adapted varieties for the poor (Witcombe etal, 2002). Participatory variety selection (PVS) hasproved to be highly effective for providingimproved varieties which combine agronomicperformance and adequate quality traits, in ashorter time and at a lower cost (Joshi andWitcombe, 1996). However, few studies havemeasured the real effectiveness of decentralizedbreeding programmes managed by farmers fromearly selection generations, compared withcentralized conventional breeding.

Based on the appraisal of twelve participatoryplant breeding (PPB) programmes, Collaborationwith farmers at the selection stage globally showedfavourable results. Compared with formal


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00048.3

114

programmes managed on-station by professionalbreeders, the PPB programmes may seldomproduce genotypes with signiûcantly higheryields but more often cultivars with an improvedbalance of traits such as earliness, yield and grainquality can be identified. PPB has evolved as asocially responsible approach in order to addressthe growing concerns of loss of agro-biodiversity,loss of traditional landraces, suboptimal adoptionrates and increasing marginalisation of smallholder farmers due to widening of gap betweentechnological interventions and their end users aswell as technologies being unsuitable to the targetfarmers.

Over a period of time, the varietaldevelopment by plant breeders and farmers hasgot disconnected due to a host of political,institutional and technological reasons. (Clevelandand Soleri, 2002). This disconnection in the cropimprovement system brings many risks becauseproducts may not reach the farmers, they may notsuit farmers’ needs and information may notfeedback to breeders. Wide geographicalseparation of the parties and weak ruralinfrastructure exacerbates these problems.However, these are issues that are fundamental tothe achievement of ‘impact’ of breeding by publicsector institutions, a criterion which is beingincreasingly demanded by those who fundinternational agricultural research. Another viewof this process of variety development is that theadvent of a more technological agriculture hasseen a progressive separation between cropimprovement and the farming system it serves,i.e. away from the traditional ‘farmer breeder’ andtowards research-based breeding. This presentsno major problems provided the breedingenvironment and farming conditions are broadlysimilar, which is the case in most developedcountries. However, where there is a wide gapbetween the research/selection environment andnormal farming conditions, then there is a risk ofselecting and releasing inappropriate varieties.

Women farmers in developing countries facea multitude of problems which an otherwisegender blind approach often fails to appreciate,or even identify. The unpredictable social,political, economic and personal hardships theyface daily are difficult to grasp. Farm scientists

invariably have severe limitations on the amountof time they can spend with female farmers in thefield or at any particular site. This often leads toan inappropriate use of resources and in manycases the failure of research efforts to meet theirobjectives.

Component of Social Responsibility in PPBConventional plant breeding is based on the

ability of plant breeder to evaluate varieties fortheir fitness to different environmental conditionsand little emphasis is laid on resources andconstraints, market and consumer aspirations.Participatory varietal selection is a holisticapproach that encompasses:

· Characterization of the target research site interms of its biophysical, social and economicattributes and strengths and bottlenecks offarmers, roles of gender

· Understand the fitness of varieties to theexisting farming systems and their importancein the livelihood systems

· Identification of landraces and traditionalvarieties grown by farmers according tospecific land types

· Identification of farmers productionconstraints in adopting released varieties andunderstand selection criteria of farmers(gender, social groups, ethnicity)

· Identification of the livelihood opportunitiesof farmers that arise out of niche andcomparative advantages

· Facilitating and assessing the levels and extentof farmer participation in decision making,setting breeding goals as well as evaluationof varieties through mother-baby trialapproach.

· Facilitating the diffusion of Participatoryvarietal selection (PVS) lines in the community(scaling up) through strengthening of localseed systems.

· Assessing the impact of farmer/communityparticipatory approach and adoption of linesevaluated through PVS by follow up studiesand identify operational constraints.

· Addressing the gender specificities in relationto varietal development and dissemination.


Sofi

115

Potential of Women in FarmingRural women are key agents for achieving the

transformation in terms of economic,environmental and social changes required forsustainable development but limited access toeducation, resources and role in decision makingare among the many challenges they face, whichare further aggravated by the global food andeconomic crises and climate change. Empoweringthem is key not only to the well-being ofindividuals, families and rural communities butalso to overall economic productivity, given theirlarge presence in the agricultural workforceworldwide.

In small holder situations in low income fooddeficient nations, about 75 per cent women workin agriculture. In developing countries, agricultureprovides employment to about 38 per cent ofwomen with the proportion as high as 66 per centin South East Asia and 63 per cent in Sub SaharanAfrica (Chaudhury et al, 2012). In rural India,about 84 per cent women are dependent onagriculture for livelihood, about 33 per centformally participate in farming but only 10 percent own land and 9.7 per cent are female headedhouseholds. Therefore, women as potentiallyimportant section of farm workers should havestake in decision making (Galie, 2013). In fact,women are key factors for on farm genetic resourceconservation by mainstreaming conservation withproduction systems. In many cases, neither mennor the market can give better analysis of varietalcharacteristics as women are key to manyoperations such as harvesting, storage and cookingquality. An important bottleneck that hampersmainstreaming overall women participation indecision making in India has been the low literacylevel of rural women. An estimated 52-75 per centof Indian women engaged in agriculture areilliterate. Moreover, in all activities there is anaverage gender wage disparity, with womenearning only 70 percent of men’s wage.Additionally, many women participate inagricultural work as unpaid subsistence labour.The lack of employment, mobility and educationrender the majority of women in India vulnerable,as dependents on the growth and stability of theagricultural market.

In India, there are distinct male and femaleroles in the rural economy. Women and girlsengage in a number of agro-oriented activitiesranging from seedbed preparation, weeding,horticulture and fruit cultivation to a series of post-harvest crop processing activities like cleaning anddrying vegetables, fruits and nuts for domestic useand for market. A disproportionate number ofthose dependent on land are women: 58 per centof all male workers and 78 per cent of all femaleworkers, and 86 per cent of all rural femaleworkers are in agriculture. Female-headedhouseholds range from 20 to 35 per cent of ruralhouseholds (widows, deserted women as well aswomen who manage farming when their menmigrate). Although the time devoted by bothwomen and men in agricultural activities may, inseveral communities and agricultural situations,be taken to be almost equal, women are dominantwithin the domestic tasks. Rural Indian womenare extensively involved in agricultural activities,but the nature and extent of their involvementdiffers with variations in agro-production systems.

Factors for Disadvantaged Situation of WomenWomen constitute approximately 70 per cent

of the agricultural labour force, and perform morethan 70 per cent of farm labour in lessindustrialised areas. A general pattern observedis that the poorer the area, the higher thecontribution of women, largely as subsistencefarmers who work on small pieces of land of lessthan 0.2 ha.

The problems of women in agriculture relateto resource ownership, decisions of resource useas well as land management issues in terms ofagriculture and the support systems it requires.Barely are there any special programmes forenhancing women’s agricultural skills and mostof the training programmes have negligible femaleparticipation. While rural males haveopportunities in construction, trade, transport,storage, and services, these are mostly denied torural females.

Hence, opportunities must be created to enablethem to acquire the skills necessary for enteringthese newly emerging opportunities. Genderinequality comes at a huge cost, not just for


Women Empowerment as a Component of Social Responsibility

116

women, but society as a whole. Discriminationagainst women can undermine economicdevelopment by limiting food security for familiesand preventing women and girls from achievinggreater opportunities in education. In addition,many agricultural research and developmentprograms ignore the needs and hopes of womenfarmers.

Issues in Gender AnalysisWhile we are designing the research

programmes aimed at creating an empoweringambience for women in farming, it is essential tocharacterise our clientele. We should consider keyissues of gender analysis in terms of the roles andresponsibilities that women can be assigned inparticipatory research. It is essential to consider:

a. Role and Stage of participation: What, whenand where is women’s contribution requiredand truly rewarding ? This includes both on-and off-farm activities related to crop andanimal husbandry especially the cropproduction management and postharvestoperations as well as livestock.

b. Access to resources and decision control:Who has access to or control over theresources? Access refers to those resourcesthat may be available but women lack freedomof choice related to the timing or amount ofuse. Control means having decision-makingauthority concerning a resource.

c. Benefits accruing from new roles: In manyparts of the world it is the women who areresponsible for food security, yet rural womenfarmers have little access to the benefits ofresearch and innovation. Therefore animportant issue is that what are the incentivesand disincentives for managing or for makingchanges to them? The question of whobenefits from these is closely related to rolesand responsibilities, equity, and issues ofaccess and control.

Gender Issues in Participatory VarietalSelection

Participatory rural appraisalParticipatory rural appraisal is the first level

of effective contact with farmers. Participation of

farmers potentially serves two broad purposesboth as an instrument of change, a process bywhich development initiatives can be moreeffectively implemented by incorporating people’sideas in the development plans, and developmentor research activities) as well as scaling up theparticipation stakeholders (By empowering thepeople by helping them to acquire skills,knowledge and experience to take greaterresponsibility as well as ownership for theirdevelopment).

Empowerment and gender specificitiesEmpowering women in most developing

countries with science is the key to achieving foodsecurity. We should communicate with them onwhat new plant varieties and new technology isbeing developed in order for them to improve theircrop production. Participatory Variety Selection(PVS) should seek to mainstream the participationof woman in the breeding programs to capturethe gender differential requirements in varietiesin view of the fact that in many of the traits suchas cooking, storage, quality, the opinion of womenholds greater weight. This will enhance acceptanceof a particular variety by a wider stakeholdergroup. It is being widely accepted that womenare an important component of small holderfarming system not only in terms of varied farmbased operations in view of limited incomeavenues but also have better understanding ofvarious varietal attributes such as storage, postharvest parameters etc, thereby empoweringwomen by appreciating their aspirations willmotivate proactive role of women in small holderfarming. A large percentage of farmers in suchsystems use their own seeds, or seeds obtainedfrom other farmers in their communities. Womenplay a key role in seed management that includesselection, cleaning, conditioning, preservation,sharing and use (Amri and Kimaro, 2010). It istherefore imperative that strategies andinterventions to improve the “seed system” valuechain must bring a woman into the equation.

During the period 2007–2009, ICARDAscientists and women farmers developed aconceptual framework to focus on social impactassessment (SIA) determining the empowermentaspect of the practice of Participatory varietal


Sofi

117

selection with women in Syria for barleyimprovement through a network of womenfarmers that subsequently continued working andenhancing the initial effort (Galie, 2013). Womeninvolvement in the determination of varietiesadapted to their unique environments wasconsidered an important achievement in anagricultural practice that has been dominated bymale farmers. The researchers and women farmersheld meetings and formed a network of women(due to cultural barriers) and they opened the doorto the participation to young women farmers inthe selection of varieties that were particularlysuitable to their needs. The women’s prevalentselection criteria included length and flexibilityof plant stems, because they used straw to makehandcrafts and sold them later at the market forneeded income (this is in direct contrast to men’sdominant consideration of yield). Another aspectof this work determined that the women selectedvarieties that possessed suitable culinary traits(cooking time, palatability, etc.) for them and theirfamilies. These qualities are not normally takeninto account in relation to commercial varieties.The research also included the study of importantchanges in the world view of the women farmersand a change of attitude about their self-confidence/self-esteem. They possessed theknowledge and a unique understanding whenselecting better crop varieties that are suitable totheir environment and needs.

Case Study: PVS in Rajmash in Kashmir valley:Rajmash is the most important summer season

pulse crop that enjoys niche status in Kashmirvalley. However, the crop has not received justattention. Since the crop is mostly grown undermarginal low input hilly farming systems, thatinherently suffer from marginality, fragility,inaccessibility and lack of adaptive capacity (Sofiet al, 2012). The women farmers have significantrole in farm operations as well as cooking, storageand even trade. SKUAST-Kashmir initiated theparticipatory varietal selection in Rajmash in 2012with the emphasis on revitalising the niche statusof this valuable crop as well as help identify anddisseminate better varieties that could meet thefarmers criteria and are able to overcome theproduction constraints being faced by the farmers.

Structured questionnaires were designed to get aninsight into the farmer’s constraints, varietalspecifications as well as opportunities associatedwith Rajmash. The rural appraisal was done witha greater focus on gender specificity in light ofthe important role of women in Rajmash basedfarming systems. In fact female respondents gavesome valuable suggestions in case of traits suchas culinary and cooking quality, threshability,storage while as men respondents were moreinterested in yield determinants, marketability andstresses. During 2012-15, the focal groupdiscussions with females in PRA exercises as wellas farm walks (Figures 1,2) indicated that femalespossessed adequate wisdom to identify constraints,varietal specifications as well as varietal rankingin paired or group comparisons (Sheikh, 2014;Umar Gul, 2015).

CONCLUSIONPlant breeders have, without any argument,

significantly contributed to the agricultural andeconomic development of societies by creating abroad spectrum of improved varieties that haveresponded to prevailing demands of enhancedproductivity, better nutrition, resilience andsustainability and consequently improved theprofitability of farming and economic conditionof farmers and rural communities. However, thereis no denying the fact that the large chunk ofeconomically deprived small holder farmers havesomehow not reaped the benefits as compared tohigh input systems. One of the reasons identifiedfor such differential impacts of plant breedingefforts across farming systems is the lack ofconsideration of the situations and needsassessment. Therefore, as socially responsibleplant breeders, while we shape our participatoryresearch strategies, we should keep in mind thefact that our clientele is largely small holderfarmers many of whom are poor, have resourceconstraints, limited productive assets and areinvariably net buyers of food, cannot buy food incase of higher prices, lack education andinformation, as well as represent the vulnerablesegment of society that lack adaptive capacitiesto environmental, economic and politicalinstabilities. There is an obvious polarisation inthought process in reorienting crop improvement


Women Empowerment as a Component of Social Responsibility

118

programmes from gender-blind to gender sensitiveand participatory approaches find relevance in away that they give appropriate weightage to genderdifferences and recognize the fact that needs ofmen and women are invariably different. In factin some cases the varietal developmentprogrammes can be termed as gender-transformative in a way that they seek to promotemore gender-equitable roles and engagements. Letus keep in mind that there is more to varietaldevelopment than mere research and academicoutput. The fruits of green revolution have notreached a large class of small holder farmers dueto inaccessibility, heterogeneity of farmingsystems and inherent complexities. The varietaldevelopment process needs to be integrated intoa holistic programme instead a compartmentalisedactivity where plant scientists, farming systemexperts, economists, extensionists, farmers andconsumers are equally conscious to andcontribute through their capacities towardsdevelopment of varieties that meet the aspirationsof small holder farmers in terms of productivityenhancement and livelihood security.

LITERATURE CITEDChaudhury M, Kristjanson P, Kyagazze F, Naab J B and Neelormi

S( 2012). Participatory gender-sensitive approaches foraddressing key climate change-related research issues: evidencefrom Bangladesh, Ghana, and Uganda. Working Paper 19.Copenhagen: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change,Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).

Cleveland D and Soleri D( 2002) . Farmers, Scientists and PlantBreeding. CABI. Pp.1-18.

Galie, A. 2013. The empowerment of women farmers in contextof participatory plant breeding in :Syria: Towards equitabledevelopment of food security. PhD thesis. WagenenginUniversity. 234 pp.

Joshi A and Witcombe J R ( 1996). Farmer participatory cropimprovement. II. Participatory varietal selection, a case studyin India. Experimental Agriculture 32(4): 461-477.

Sofi P A, Razvi S M and Wani S A, Khan M A, Kamaluddin andChesti M H ( 2013). Common Bean: Constraints andOpportunities in Hill Agriculture. In: Hill Agriculture:Constraints and Mitigation Strategies. Editor: Shahid Ahmad.Daya Publishing House. Pp. 145-170.

Sheikh A( 2014). Participatory Varietal selection in French beansin Ganderbal and Budgam districts of Kashmir using modifiedmother trial approach. M. Sc. Thesis submitted to SKUAST-K, Shalimar. 112 pp.

Umar Gul( 2015). Participatory Varietal selection in RajmashinKulgam and Shopian districts of Kashmir using modifiedmother trial approach. M. Sc. Thesis submitted to SKUAST-K, Shalimar. 112 pp.

Witcombe J R (2002). A mother and baby trial system. In BreedingRainfed Rice for Drought-prone Environments: IntegratingConventional and Participatory Plant Breeding in South andSoutheast Asia. Proceedings of a DFID Plant SciencesResearch Programme/IRRI Conference, 12–15 March (2002),IRRI, Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines ˜ , 79–89 (Eds J. R.

Witcombe, L. B. Parr and G. N. Atlin). Bangor and Manila:Department for International Development (DFID) PlantSciences Research Programme, Centre for Arid Zone Studies(CAZS) and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).



Sofi

119

Corresponding Author’s Email: [email protected]*Programme Coordinator, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kapurthala.

Women in Sugarcane Farming: Challenges andOpportunities

Gulzar S Sanghera and Manoj Sharma*Punjab Agricultural University

Regional Research Station, Kapurthala-144 601(Punjab)

ABSTRACT Sugarcane industry in India is an important contributor to the national economy through theproduction of multiple products for national and international consumption. The productionand processing of sugarcane is a major source of employment in the country. Women form thebackbone of sugarcane cultivation; they still tend to exist as “the hidden farmers” with almostnegligible access on land, resources, technologies, financial services, markets and eveneducation. With the growing feminization of agriculture, there is need to develop specificstrategies for women in sugarcane agriculture to develop their skills and strengthen their capacitiesas it significantly contribute to domestic production and employment.

Key Words: Sugarcane, Farm women, Gender inequality, Empowering skills.

INTRODUCTIONSugarcane and beet are being produced in over

130 countries, with sugar cane accounting for 65-70 per cent of global production. Developingcountries will account for nearly all futureproduction growth raising their share from 67 percent in the period 1998-2000 to 72 per cent by2020 (Singh et al, 2013). The sugarcane industryin India is an important contributor to the nationaleconomy through the production of multipleproducts for national and internationalconsumption as well its contribution to recentregulatory requirements for bio-eth-anol to beincluded as a constituent of petroleum-basedfu-els.

The production and processing of sugarcaneis a major source of employment and livelihoodin India. Sugarcane is an annual crop engagingaround 50 m. farmers of which approximately halfare women. Even though women form thebackbone of sugarcane cultivation, they still tendto exist as “the hidden farmers” with almostnegligible access on land, resources, technologies,financial services, markets and even education.Despite their exclusive inputs in agriculturaloperations like farm yard manure application, settplanting and treatments, hand weeding and de-trashing, cane bundling, disposal of trash and plant

protection measures, the output of the landcontrolled by women is drastically lesser than themale counterparts. In addition, besides thesignificant contribution of women in farming,considerable disparity in wages still existsbetween the male and female labourer(Wichterich, 2000). On an average, womenlabourers are paid only 50 per cent as comparedto the male counterparts per day for the same workduration.

Women continue to provide a large proportionof the labour that goes into agriculture, FAO’sestimates show that women represent a substantialshare of the total agricultural labour force, asindividual food producers or as agriculturalworkers, and that around two-thirds of the femalelabour force in developing economies is engagedin agricultural work (Carr et al, 2000). Apart fromdirect participation in farming, women are also atthe forefront of sugarcane research, cultivation andprocessing as researchers and academicians.Statistical projections indicate that if women havesame access to resources as men have insugarcane farming, land exploitation can increaseby 20-30 per cent, raising the economy by 2.5-4.0 per cent. An increasing body of literature ongender-related aspects of trade has been emergingover the last decade. However, there is little


DOI: 10.5958/2349-4433.2015.00049.5

120

empirical information available about women’sinvolvement in trade expansion, and the impactof agricultural trade liberalization on women’srights and roles in agriculture and the ruraleconomy. Therefore, a paradigm shift is requiredto alter the role of women in increasing sugarcaneagriculture productivity and production.

This article shall provide a platform fordiscussing the challenges and issues faced bywomen that may be useful to prepare a road mapfor women empowerment in sugarcane farmingby researchers, farmers, policy makers andadministrators.

Women’s Work And GlobalizationWomen have always worked in the

production of food and other products in ruralareas. However, official statistics are determinedby reporting in line with official definitions ofagricultural work, which tend not to recognizewomen’s contribution to agricultural activities,despite efforts to improve gender-differentiateddata in agricultural census and household surveys.Women in agriculture in the most developingcountries play important roles in household foodsecurity as income earners, nurturers, andmanagers of natural resources and biodiversity,although the success with which they are able toexecute these roles is often mitigated by restrictedaccess to land, labour, capital and technology.Food security and family well-being are clearreasons for protecting or enhancing women’saccess and control over land and other productiveresources.

Studies have shown that resources controlledby women are more likely to be used to improvefamily food consumption and welfare, reducechild malnutrition (Rossi Rocha et al, 2007) andincrease overall well-being of the family. Thenecessity for thorough assessments of how tradeliberalization may or may not impact on foodsecurity, nutritional status and/or access toagricultural inputs and other productive factors -from a gender-differentiated perspective - shouldbe seen in this context. With the growingfeminization of agriculture, there is need todevelop specific strategies for women inagriculture. Apart from conferring land rights, it

is also essential that Ministry of Woman and ChildDevelopment (MWCD) work in close cooperationwith Agriculture to develop their skills andstrengthen their capacities as well as access tocheap finance and other inputs.

Most women workers in India are engagedin agriculture, where livelihoods are insecure andwages are low. There also exists a significantgender gap in terms of wages. Women’s unpaidwork is “invisible” and unrecognized both sociallyand in the national accounting schemes. Actionsto improve women’s work and livelihoodoutcomes in a context of globalization include:Support processes to engender global tradeagreements and treaties; Support efforts topromote policies and institutions which givewomen, especially rural women, employment,ownership and access to economic resources,assets, capacity building and social security;Attention to training and re-focusing of skillscontinue to strengthen the networks of womenworkers in the informal sector and extend anddeepen the reach of information andcommunication technologies (ICT) beyond theeducated middle class, including women.

New Opportunities For WomenWomen empowerment refers to increasing the

spiritual, political, social or economic strength ofwomen. It often involves the empowereddeveloping confidence in their own capacities.The increased input of female labour into agro-processing and manufacturing export activitiestends to be associated with the ongoing processof liberalization in trade and investment, and withthe expansion of TNC (transnational corporations)operations in developing economies. These newjob opportunities do not always result in improvedliving conditions for women and their families.Heightened demand for female labour is notusually associated with higher wages but is widelyobserved to be associated with an increase inflexibility of the labour market. This generally goeshand in hand with low wages, lack of socialprotection, and poor contractual conditions suchas very short-term contracts with reduced benefits,long working hours, and no rights of association,all of which exacerbate the exploitation of womenand child labour.

Sanghera and Sharma


121

The greater involvement of female labour inproducing export crops does not correlate with asubstantial increase in women’s income, owingto low wage-levels, and women’s contribution tofamily income may actually decline (Joekes,1999). In monetary and non-monetary terms, thismay further reduce her bargaining power withinthe household. In addition, since a large part ofrural women’s contribution to the householdlivelihood is not monetary, in order to estimatewomen’s gains from job remuneration in exportsit is necessary to consider the opportunity cost ofwomen’s labour.

While women in rural areas may benefit fromincreased employment in the agro-export sector,they also tend to bear a disproportionate share ofthe costs associated with the conflicts and crisesof the trade liberalization era. Following the EastAsian crisis of 1997-98, for instance, around 25per cent of those who dropped out of the labourforce were women, compared to 7.4 per cent ofmen. Additionally the number of women withmore flexible and short-term contracts inagricultural related activities rose (Kendre, 2011).

Empowering Through Skills TrainingFor generations of workers in the sugar cane

plantations of north-eastern Brazil, the longmonths between harvests have been a time ofhunger. Sugar cane cutting is hard labour. Womenworkers rise in the early hours to prepare food fortheir families and leave for work before dawn,working long hours in the scorching sun.Alternatives are limited. An innovative trainingprogramme which offers participants training innon-traditional jobs is using the time between theharvests to change women’s prospects, withtransformational effects. There are success storiesof woman sugarcane growers achieving higherproductivity by adopting new improved plantingtechniques, best agriculture practices, irrigation,systems that reduce water consumption andintegrated pest management practices. This canbe achieved only through training women growersand encouraging their participation in allagricultural activities.

As a part of women resource development,Vasantdada Sugar Institute annually organizesShetty Dndyan Laxmi training programs

specifically for women cane growers from theMaharashtra state on improved cane cultivationtechnologies. The program was initiated in thememory of Late Vasantdada Patil, FounderPresident of the institute and is very appropriateforum where the women sugarcane growers fromMaharashtra state get an opportunity to gather,combine, interact, share and also learn the advancepractices in sugarcane farming. Open housediscussion sessions are conducted at the end ofevery training program. These training programshave been immensely helpful for the womentrainee farmers to enhance their skill, gainknowledge and confidence (Deshmukh, 2013).

Women in the sugar industry need bettercommunication, networking and informationexchange among other women. Many womenworking in the sector support their family and areunable to attend industry meetings, workshops ortraining session. It is needed to disseminateinformation to them via other communicationmeans and information sharing, viz e-mails, onlinenetworking, social networking etc. To fulfillgender equality through several Articles of theConstitutional mandates, the government of Indiahas taken several steps to empower women andwomen welfare through a series of women specificscheme and creation of National Policy forEmpowerment 2001.

For economic empowerment, it is necessaryfor women to have access to and control overproductive resources for some degree of financialautonomy. Congregation of women plays adominant role in women empowerment. Self HelpGroup (SHG) is a good medium to congregatewomen. By the end of December, 2011, 7.89 lakhwomen from 12,243 villages were participatingin 61,072 SHGs. The total saving of these womenwas about Rs 176 crore and the total internal loanwas Rs 493 crore. Loan received from variousbanks to SHGs was Rs 384 crore (Anonymous,2004).

In nutshell, to enhance the capacity andcapability of women farmer in sugarcane, theyneed to be given comprehensive understandingof necessity of training each activity. In extensionprogram, exclusive training program should beorganized for women farmer on each topic/subject.

Women in Sugarcane Farming


122

Preferably, women trainers should be engaged ininitial period and once the women farmers becomeaware of various activities and inputs required,faculties of various discipline can be brought intraining to strengthen the concept andpracticability of the training. The exposureinvolving various aspects of sugarcane cultivationto women farmers will empower them to givedesired results. The training and exposure shouldbe a continuous process to acquire knowledgeabout latest technologies and their utility inpractical operations.

Participation of Men And Women in DifferentSugarcane Farming Operations

Sugarcane farming is performed by men andwomen both, their practical level can differ invarious activities (Table 1). Various sugarcanefarming operations like ploughing, spraying,cleaning irrigation channels, earthing up, sprayingplant protection chemicals and off barring arebeing done exclusively by men. These activitiesare laborious and cumbersome and hence beingdone by men. Activities like spreading setts in thefield, sett planting and covering, hand weedingand detrashing are done exclusively by farmwomen. These activities are also laborious but donot demand physical energy as required by theactivities done by men. In all the other activities,there exists wide variation (Shanthy, 2010).

Futuristic Role of Women In Sugar CaneCultivation

The Prime Minister of India, Pundit JawaharlalNehru, Once said “In order to awaken the people,it is the women who have to be awakened, Onceshe is on the move, the family moves, the villagemoves, the nation moves’’. Sugarcane cultivationis whole time engaging agricultural activity. Thecrop being of a sturdy nature, it can absorb shockssuch as water stress, lack of fertilizers etc.However, the effect of neglect is evident on itsyield and productivity. Presently, the sugarcanecrop is showing day by day decrease in itscultivation of sugarcane. Considering the futureneed of sugar for the country, it is imperative tore-examine the issues of sugarcane cultivation

right from selection of variety till harvesting atappropriate time. Therefore, the journey of sugarcane crop invites attention at every stage of itsgrowth. However, it must be emphasized thatthrough sugar mills, the sugarcane crop brings outoverall development in that area. The area undersugarcane has increased in our country, but theaverage yield and sugar recovery are lowcompared to their potential and remained stagnantover the years. The reasons for low sugarcaneyield and average sugar recovery are as follows:

1. Inadequate availability of quality seed material

2. No proper adoption of the varieties havinghigh yield and high sugar

3. Inadequate irrigation facilities and poor watermanagement practices

4. Poor drainage and ill-health of the soil

5. Lack of adequate and timely application

6. Inadequate farm mechanization in major farmoperation

7. Inadequate efforts to control insects, diseasesand weeds

8. Negligence to ratoon crop

9. Lack of participation of sugar mills indevelopment activities

10. Lack of efficient technology transfermechanism

11. Inadequate farm credit

In future, the above reasons of low sugarcaneand sugar productivity will continue, in additionto following major problems and limitations:

1. Limitation to increase the area undersugarcane

2. Increasing cost of cultivation

3. Soil fertility deterioration

4. Disturbance of cyclic nature on sugarproduction

5. Shortage of man power

6. Shortage of electric power

7. Fragmentation of land

8. Diversion of sugarcane area to othercompetitive crops

Sanghera and Sharma


123

Table 1. Extent of participation of men and women in different sugarcane farming operations (N=94) a case study from India

S. No. Activities Coimbatore Puducherry Chidambaram1 Land preparation Men Women Men Women Men Women

Ploughing 100 - 100 - 100 -FYM application 13.33 86.67 8.82 91.18 16.67 83.33Forming ridges & furrows 100 - 100 - 100 -

2 PlantingSett cutting 60 40 17.65 82.35 83.33 16.67Sett treatment 20 80 - - 6.67 93.33Sett transport - 100 14.71 85.29 - 100Spreading setts - 100 - 100 - 100Sett planting & covering - 100 - 100 - 100

3. Weed managementSpraying weedicide 100 - 100 - 100 -Hand weeding - 100 - 100 - 100

4. Fertilizer applicationApplying Super PO4 66.67 33.33 44.12 55.86 40 60N&K top dressing 46.67 53.33 38.24 61.76 43.33 56.67

5. IrrigationGuiding irrigation water 93.33 6.67 41.18 58.82 86.67 13.33Cleaning channels 100 - 100 - 100 -

6. .Earthing up 100 - 100 - 100 -

7. Detrashing - 100 - 100 - 100

8. Plant protectionSupply of water 6.67 93.33 - 100 10 90Mixing chemicals 86.67 13.33 85.29 14.71 80 20Roguing affected clumps 93.33 6.67 82.35 17.65 90 10

9. HarvestingCutting the cane 86.67 13.33 55.88 44.12 80 20Detopping the cane 6.67 93.33 5.88 94.12 26.67 73.33Cleaning the cane 6.67 93.33 5.88 94.12 26.67 73.33Bundling 10 90 11.76 88.24 13.33 86.67Transporting the cane 60 40 38.24 61.76 66.67 33.33

10. Ratoon managementCollection of trash 13.33 86.67 8.82 91.18 13.33 86.67Trash disposal 26.67 73.33 20.59 79.41 16.67 83.33

(Source: Shanthy, 2010)

Multi Dimensional Role of Women in CaneCultivation

The cane cultivation, at various level ofgrowth, needs specific attention. Women, bynature have a focused view, sincerity andcommitment to work. Their sense ofbelongingness is of high order. If women areactively involved in the cane cultivation activity,they will carry out their role very effectively andtimely. If sugarcane cultivation activities are doneon time, it has a positive effect on productivity.Cleaning of the field, seed selection, de-trashing,

sett treatment, sett distribution, planting,transplanting, weeding, irrigation, fertilizersapplications, plant protection, harvesting, bindingof the cane, transport, loading, of the cane in thevehicles in plant cane and trash mulching, stubbleshaving, weeding, spraying, gap filling, and plantprotection activities in ratoon crops require carefulimplementation of package of practices. All theseactivities need close supervision and monitoring.Unfortunately, all these activities though carriedout, it is done in a routine manner by the growersand are not supervised or monitored properly.

Women in Sugarcane Farming


124

CHALLENGES FOR WOMEN WORKERS

Poor health and malnutritionIn rural areas, women’s health is grossly

neglected, even if’ she is the main person in thehousehold. She will try to neglect her own health,while taking care of others which reduces hercapacity to work (Gore et al, 2013)

Land OwnershipThe land ownership is, by and large, held by

the male farmers which make women totallydependent on her husband. Thanks to theamendments brought in Hindu Succession Act andsome states have taken steps to joint ownershipof husband and wife and gave co- parcenory statusto daughters and widow of predeceased son.

Importance of latest technology in agricultureThe women do not get an opportunity to learn

latest technologies in agriculture and other meansof productivity enhancements. The training andextension activities but are also considered asunimportant.

Lack of educationWomen in rural areas are comparatively not

educated because of sheer workload they have tocarry from their childhood. Preferential treatmentis given to male child in every respect such asschooling, clothing and food whereas female childis deprived of all these and continues work tillshe gets married. Even after marriage, workloadand responsibilities increase manifold. Moreover,considering the small and marginal farmers, a largelabor force is required to carry out agricultureoperations and female from the house deployedfor that and even this, female work as labor onothers farm too to earn livelihood. The abovementioned points of handicaps are only indicativebut not exhaustive.

CONCLUSIONWomen’s increased responsibilities in recent

decades for reproducing and maintaining thefamily, in most lower-income countries, haveresulted in rather complex and demanding

livelihood strategies. In country like India, bothmen and women are equal partners in farmingoperations, more so in a labour intensive longduration crop like sugarcane gender determineswho has access to the local resources and whatkind of access they have. These diversifiedlivelihood strategies have to respond to the internaland external dynamics that typically influencerural families. Technology training and inputsupport to women farmers can create a positiveimpact on participation of women in sugarcaneagriculture. The Government of India and the stategovernments have taken firm and proactiveactions for giving women a right role in variousactivities and involved them in every sphere oflife as enshrined in the constitution of India.

REFERENCESAnonymous (2004). International federation of agricultural

producers. World Farmer (Special Issue: Women Farmers):1-6.

Carr M, Chen A M and Tate J (2000). Globalization of home-based workers. World Development 6(3): 123-142.

Deshmukh S (2013). Potential approaches for empowering womenin sugarcane industry. Proceeding of national conference on‘Women in sugarcane agriculture and industry’ at IISRLucknow, August 29-31, 2013. Pp 3-7.

Gore H D, Singru S A, Fernandez K, Mhaske M, Babanagre Sand Gore S (2013). Health profile of sugarcane harvesterworking in rural Maharashtra, India. Indian Journal of AppliedResearch 3(12): 451-453.

Joekes S (1999). A gender-analytical perspective on trade andsustainable development, UNCTAD New York and Geneva.

Kendre B (2011). Socio-economic background and seasonalmigration of sugarcane harvesting workers. Int J HumanitSoc Sci 1(2):15-21.

Rossi Rocha F L, Palucci M M H, Cruz Robazzi M L (2007).Poverty as a predisposing factor of illness tendencies in sugarcane workers. Rev Lat Am Enfermagem 15:736-41.

ShanthY T R (2010) Gender perspectives for sustaining sugarcanebased farming system. Indian Res J Ext Edu 10 (1): 112-116.

Singh R, Singh R K, Singh S, Singh V and Singh AK ( 2013)Participation and performance of women in sugarcaneagriculture. Proceeding of national conference on ‘Women insugarcane agriculture and industry’ at IISR Lucknow, August29-31, 2013. Pp 95-98.

Wichterich C (2000). The Globalized Woman: Reports from aFuture of Inequality. London: Zed Books.


Sanghera and Sharma


128

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The editorial office of Journal of Krishi Vigyan expresses its extreme gratitude to the followinghonourable reviewers from across the country, for reviewing the manuscripts and providing theirexpert comments. The valuable input by the worthy reviewers in terms of their precious time andsincere efforts is greatly admirable.

Reviewer’s Name Institution

Ananta Kr. Das Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Howra ( West Bengal)

Chhaya A Badiger University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad ( Karnataka)

Gagandeep Kaur Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (Punjab)

Gulzar Singh Sanghera Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (Punjab)

Kanchan Sandhu Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Jalandhar (Punjab)

Kiran Singh Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Jamshedpur( Jharkhand )

Manisha Bhatia Krishi Vigyan Kendra , SBS Nagar (Punjab)

Manoj Sharma Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kapurthala (Punjab)

Niranjan Singh Central Avian Research Institute, Izatnagar (Uttar Pradesh)

N C Sahu Sasya Shyamala Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda

University, South 24 Parganas (West Bengal)

N D Singh Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Dirang, West Kamang (Arunachal Pradesh)

Simerjeeet Kaur Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (Punjab)

Tanmay Samajdar Krishi Vigyan Kendra , Garo Hills (Meghalaya)

Copyright and disclaimer

Copyright @ Authors. All rights reserved. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission toreproduce copyright material from other sources. The publisher assumes no responsibility for anystatement of fact or opinion or copyright violation in the published papers. The views expressed bythe authors do not necessarily represent the view point of the journal.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

The Journal of Krishi Vigyan, a peer-reviewed, half yearly, journal is being published by theSociety of Krishi Vigyan. The publication is aimed at providing access to academicians, researchers,extension workers and industry professionals from across the globe to publish their work on all aspectsof agriculture and allied fields through research papers, short communications and review articles.

The editorial board of SKV welcomes the submission of manuscripts within the aim and scope ofthe journal for publication. The articles may be submitted via regular mail in duplicate, each with a setof original figures and photographs to the Editor, Journal of Krishi Vigyan electronically in MS WORDformat as e-mail attachments to the [email protected] or [email protected] .

Please refer to the instructions for authors before submitting an article.

General guidelinesIt is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that

1. Papers are submitted strictly as per the style and format of JKV. The articles not confirming fullyto the style and format of JKV will be returned to author(s) by the editorial office foramendment, prior to a review for its scientific merit.

2. Submission of an article is understood to imply that the article is original and has not been publishedpreviously, is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and if accepted, it will not bepublished elsewhere in the same form, in English or any other language. The submission ofthe article has the approval of the all co-authors and the authorities of the host institute where workhas been carried out.

3. The editorial board of JKV discourages the submission of more than one article dealing withrelated aspects from the same study; this includes different aspects of data derived from oneparticular experiment, or cases in which the analytical techniques, animals or experimentalprocedures are common to all papers. If author(s) have valid reasons for separation of reports ofone particular experiment or study into more than one paper, these must be submitted simultaneously.

4. The Author(s) may suggest the names of at least three experts/reviewers, not from the hostorganization/institute where the work had been carried out (along with their complete mailingaddress, contact nos. and e-mail id) whom they feel qualified to evaluate their research article.These suggestions will only be considered if e-mail Ids are also provided. Submission of suchnames does not imply that they will definitely be used for scrutiny.

5. The “Article submission certificate” duly signed by all the authors/head of host department / institute(optional) on a prescribed format must be furnished along with article at the time of submission. Ifthe article is sent through e-mail, the scanned copy of certificate (signed / stamped) may be attached.

6. For publication of articles in JKV, all the contributing authors has to be the member (either life orannual) of Society of Krishi Vigyan.

7. The submitted manuscripts will be assessed from editorial points of view, at first, and if foundsuitable for publication, it will be sent for peer-review. The review process will be a double-blindprocess where author(s) and referees are unaware of each others’ name. The author(s) must abideby the suggestions of referee and the editorial board of JKV. The final decision to publish anarticle will lie with the Editor and Publisher of the journal.

8. The corresponding author will be sent the PDF file of his/her published article free of cost via e-mail. No hard copies of the reprints will be provided.

9. Journal of Krishi Vigyan has no page charges.

10. For enquiries regarding submission, please contact the editorial office [email protected]

Manuscript preparationLanguage: Papers must be written in English. The text and all supporting materials must use UKspelling conventions. It is up to the authors to make sure there are no typographical errors in themanuscript.

Typescript: Manuscripts must be typed in Microsoft Word, using Times New Roman font at 12 points,double spaced on one side of A4 size bond paper with 2.5 cm margin on all sides. All pages should benumbered consecutively in the right corner on the top. Indent new paragraphs.

Words: Papers should not normally exceed up to 8000 words for review articles; 4000 words fororiginal full length papers and 1500 words for short communications.

Headings: Main Headings - Major headings are centered, all capitals, boldface in Times New Romanfont at 12 points, and consist of ABSTRACT, INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND MATHODS,RESULTS AND DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (optional) andREFERENCES.

First subheadings are placed in a separate line, begin at the left margin, and are in italics. Text thatfollows should be in a new paragraph.

Second Subheadings should begin with the first line of a paragraph, indented and in italic. The textfollows immediately after the second subheading.

Contents: The contents must be arranged in an orderly way with suitable headings for each subsection.The recommended subdivision of contents is as follows:-

Running head: The running head or short title of not more than 50 characters, in title case andcentered should be placed above the main title of the study.

Title: The title must be informative and brief. The initials and name of the author(s), the address of thehost institution where the work was done must follow the title.

Superscripts (1,2,3) should be used in cases where authors are from different institutions. Thesuperscript # should be appended to the author to whom correspondence should be addressed, andindicated as such together with an e-mail address in the line immediately following the keywords. Thepresent postal address of authors, if currently different from that of the host institution should also besuperscripted appropriately and inserted in the lines following the key words.

Abstracts: It must summarize the major objectives, methods, results, conclusions, and practicalapplications of the study conducted. The Abstract must consist of complete sentences and use ofabbreviations should be limited.

Keywords: The Abstract is followed by three to five keywords from the title to be used for subjectindexing. These should be singular (e.g. paper, not papers). The abstract, including key words shouldbe separated by horizontal lines places before and after the text.

Introduction: This should include a statement of why the subject under investigation is considered tobe of importance, a concise indication of the status quo of published work in this field and a declarationof the aims of the experiment or study i.e. the hypothesis.

Materials and Methods: These should be concise but of sufficient detail to enable the experiment tobe replicated by an outside party. Particular care should be taken to ensure that the appropriatestatistical analyses have been carried out. Specify the design used, factors tested or the statisticalmodel employed. Non significant differences (P> 0.05) should not be discussed.

Results and Discussion: Results and discussion should be combined to avoid repetition. It should bepresented in a logical sequence in the text, tables and figures. The repetitive presentation of the samedata in different forms should be avoided. The discussion should consider the results in relation to anyhypotheses advanced in the Introduction and place the study in the context of other work.

Conclusion: The conclusion should consist of a short integration of results that refer directly to thestated aims of the experiment and a statement on the practical implications of the results.

Acknowledgements (optional): A brief and formal acknowledgment section, if desired, should followthe conclusion statement. Do not include titles of persons; such as Dr., Mr., or Ms., use only initialsand surnames.

References: The existing relevant literature restricted to those with a direct bearing upon the findingsmust be appropriately cited.

References appearing in the text – References in the text should be given as : Sharma and Rao(1983). Use änd” and not “&”. A reference by three or more authors should be identified in the textonly by the first author followed by et al (in italic) and the year.

Where several references are quoted consecutively in the text, the order should be chronological or,within a year, alphabetical (by first author or, if necessary, by first and second author(s).

Where references are made to several papers by the same author(s) in the same year, the year shouldbe followed by a, b, c, etc.

Personal communications and unpublished work should be cited in the text only and not in the referencelist, giving the initials, name: for example (M. S. Gill, unpublished), (M.S. Gill, personalcommunication).

References to internet sites should be quoted in the normal way in the text e.g. FDA (2008). In thereference list, the full URL must be given, followed by the date that the website was assessed.

References appearing in reference section : All publications cited in the text should be presented inthe list under Reference section, in alphabetical order. The title of the article should be given in thereference and journal’s name should be cited in italic as abbreviated by the journal. It is the fullresponsibility of the authors to cross check reference in the text of the article with those in the list ofreferences. In all cases, a reference must provide sufficient information to enables the reader to locateit.

Examples of references – (Hanging indent 1 cm)

For journals/periodicals

Mufeed S (1998). Evaluating employee performance: A successful instrument for human resourcedevelopment. Indian J Trg and Dev 28 (2): 72-93.

For books

AOAC (1980). Official Methods of Analysis. 13th edn. Association of Official Analytical Chemists.Washington, DC.

For Chapters in bookBarnabas A P and Lakshmiswaramma M (1980). “Assessment of Evaluation system for Rural

development”. In: Monitoring and Evaluation of Rural Development: Some Asian Experiences.(eds Kuldeep Mathu and Inayatulloah) Kuala Lumpur U.N. Asian and Pacific Development Centre.Pp: 121-22.

Bray R A (1994). The leucaena psylid. In: Forage Tree Legumes in Tropical Agriculture (eds. R CGutteridge and H M Shelton). CAB International, Oxford. Pp. 283-91.

For proceedings of conferences/symposia etc.

Vivero J L P (2002). Forest is not only wood: the importance of non-wood forest products for the foodsecurity of rural households in Ethiopia. In: Proceedings of the Fourth, Annual Conference forestrysociety of Ethiopia 14-15 January 2002, Ethiopia pp 102.

Elangovan A V ,Tyagi P K, Mandal A B and Tyagi P K (2007). Effect of dietary supplementation ofstain on egg production performance and egg quality of Japanese quail layers. Proceedings ofXXIV Annual Conference of Indian Poultry Science Association and National Symposium , 25-27April, Ludhiana, India, pp. 158 (Abstr.).

For thesesFayas A M (2003). Viability of self help groups in vegetables and fruit promotion council Keralam- amultidimensional analysis, MSc (Ag.) thesis, Kerala Agricultural University.

For online (internet site) citationFDA (2008). Effect of the use of antimicrobials in food producing animals on pathogen load: Systematicreview of the published literature. www.fda.gov/cvm/antimicrobial/PathRpt.PDF Accessed January11, 2012.

Tables/Figures/Illustrations : Tables should be self contained and complement, but not duplicateinformation contained in the text. The table number (given as an Arabic numeral) should be given atthe top, followed by a concise title. Give essential details as footnotes. Keep the number of columns toa minimum. Column headings should be brief, with the units of measurement clearly stated inparentheses. Where one unit applies to all the data in the body of the table include it in the title. Cite alltables in the text, in numerical order at first mention. Significant differences between means in columnsor rows should be indicated by superscript letters, and accompanied by a standard statement underneaththe table, e.g. “Means in columns not sharing a common superscript differ significantly (P<0.05)”.

Figures: Number all figures/illustrations consecutively, in order of appearance in the text, using Arabicnumerals. Keep lettering

on illustrations to a minimum and include essential details in the legend. Tables/Figures/illustrationsetc. should be submitted along with the main text of the paper with each on a new page, and shouldtake account of the page size of the journal. Wherever possible, figures should be suitable for subsequentdirect photographic reproduction.

Coloured figures : Use of coloured photographs is discouraged. If found necessary, the photographsshould be submitted as good quality, glossy colour prints.

Abbreviation and units: Use only standard abbreviations. The word ‘Figure’ should be shortened toFig. unless starting a sentence. SI units (metre, kilogram etc.) should be used wherever possible.Statistics and measurements should always be given in figures; i.e. 15mm, except where the numberbegins the sentence. When the number does not refer to a unit measurement (e.g. 15mm), it is speltout, except where the number is greater than nine.

Style and format of short communications: A short communication should be a maximum of 1500words. It contains a very brief abstract followed by a brief introduction, text including tables andfigures and a brief conclusion followed by references. No subheadings are to be included except forthe abstract and reference section. Format, tables and figures must conform to the conventions of theJournal.

ARTICLE SUBMISSION CERTIFICATE

Manuscript Title:

Manuscript type: Review article/Full length paper/Short communication (Check one):

Name(s) of the author(s):

Name and address of

corresponding author :

Contact No. # :

E-mail:

I (we) affirm that:

1. The manuscript has been prepared in accordance with the latest “Instructions for author’s guidelines ofthe Journal of Krishi Vigyan.

2. The article is original and has not been published previously, is not under consideration for publicationelsewhere, and if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same or, in English or any otherlanguage. The submission of the article has the approval of the all the authors and the authorities of thehost institute where work had been carried out.

3. All the authors have made substantive and intellectual contributions to the article and assume fullresponsibility for all opinions, conclusions and statements expressed in the articles.

4. I (we) agree to abide by the comments of referees/editorial board and will modify the article as per theirrecommendations for publication in Journal of Krishi Vigyan.

5. If the above article is published in Journal of Krishi Vigyan, the copyright of this article will vest with theSociety of Krishi Vigyan, who will have the right to enter into any agreement with any organization inIndia or abroad engaged in reprography, photocopying, storage and dissemination of information containedin it, and neither we nor our legal heirs will have any claims on royalty.

Name of the author(s) Designation Present official address Signature with date

1.

2.

KVK Journal Special Issue on women empowerment

Documents