Women and agriculture
In overall farm production, women's average contribution is estimated at 55% to 66% of the total labour with percentages much higher in certain region. In the Indian Himalayas a pair of bullocks works 1064 hours, a man 1212 hours and a woman 3485 hours in a year on a one-hectare farm, a figure which illustrates women's significant contributions to agricultural production.
Their contribution to agriculture is no doubt because of their greater contribution to household income. They constitute a large part of the total work force in agriculture. Although the pattern of division of labour between men and women varies greatly from region to region, women are involved in most of the operations in agriculture, including subsidiary enterprises like dairy, poultry, beekeeping, mushroom, cultivation sericulture, pisiculture, social forestry, etc. So far as crop husbandry is concerned, women participate in almost all activities, right from preparatory tillage to harvest, and even in post harvest tasks like processing, storage, and marketing.
So, women must be provided opportunities to have control over production resources that would lead to better life for their families.
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