‘Women farmers need to be recognised by State’

BHUBANESWAR: “The State Government should recognise its women farmers during formulation of policies and programmes,” said the experts here on Thursday while attending an awareness campaign on women farmers in the State organised by the OXFAM India along with its partner organisations CWS, CYSD, FARR, ISD and RCDC.    

According to Kailash Chandra Dash of the campaign, the campaign was designed to address the issues of women in agriculture as women constitute major proportion of agricultural workforce. Studies show that the proportion of women inherit land varies from three to 25 per cent in different States. Many studies revealed that ownership and management of land makes women to take decisions on lots of economic activities which results enhanced income. The women have all the capacity to run her family with the agriculture income, but they didn’t get the opportunity, he added. 

The activists demanded the State to recognise women as farmers, prioritising them in different development programmes of the State and implementation of exclusive schemes for women in agriculture.

As a part of the campaign, a congregation and rally of around 300 farmers from different districts of the State was conducted in the city. Experts and activists like journalist Dillip Satpathy, former member of Board of Revenue Arabindo Behera, journalist Rajaram Satpathy, Prof Bedabati Mohanty, Prof Swarnlata Tripathy, social activist Namrata Chadha and OXFAM India regional manager Akshaya Kumar Biswal attended the programme.