Problems faced by farm women in the field of agriculture in Koch Bihar district, West Bengal

Abstract

Nearly half of the available human resources in Koch Bihar are women and share huge responsibilities and perform wide spectrum of works in running family, maintaining households, agriculture and allied fields in the rural areas. Rural women are extensively involved in agricultural and livestock activities however, the nature and extent of their involvement differs with the variations in agro-production systems and socio-economic status. Taking the above situation in consideration, a study was conducted to identify the major problems of farm women in Koch Bihar district of West Bengal. The investigation indicated that majority of rural farm women experienced drudgery of agricultural activities mostly through the processes of weeding, transplanting, harvesting, threshing, cutting, carrying and storing grains. During field survey it was found that majority farm women stated that gender disparity on wage was the major problem and was ranked the first problem. Thus, second rank and third rank took less importance on decision making and more involvement in household activity of the farm women respectively.Although rural farm women played a vital role in agricultural operations, livestock production and household activities but for decision making their involvement was negligible. This study will help the planners, policy makers and extension personnel to realize the immense potential of rural farm women resources in agriculture and develop appropriate policy measures to solve their real and practical problems. Beside this, it is necessary to provide agricultural training and market linkages to rural farm women so that they get additional income and employment opportunity in future.