Role of Women in Agricultural Sector of Bihar: A Socio-Economic Mapping

The multi-dimensional role of women in agriculture cannot be denied as they contribute in every agricultural operation-from sowing to harvesting of crops and are also active in allied sectors like cattle management, dairying, beekeeping, goat rearing mushroom production and poultry etc. Participation of women in total workforce was assessed 27.44 % as against 72.56 % by male workforce in 2011. Share of women agricultural workforce in total workforce was computed to be 16.57% in 2001 which declined to 6.23% in 2011. Causes of decline may be their participation other sectors with improvement in their literacy rate which rose to 51.50% in 2011 as compared to 33.57% in 2001. The male-female sex ratio has registered a decline of 0.11% as compared to 2001 census. Women holding land account for only 13.31% as against 87.27% by men Bihar. Share of women agricultural workforce in total agricultural workforce was estimated to be 19.32% as per census 2011. Operation wise contribution of women in agricultural activities was assessed to be 35.94% during 2013-14. Women’s contribution in agriculture is significant and plays diverse role, still their wages were found 7.04% less than their male counterparts during 2015-16. To strengthen women’s participation in agriculture and allied sectors and to improve their access to land, loan and other facilities, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has policy provisions like joint leasing for both domestic and agricultural land under National policy for farmers. Under credit facility provisions government has framed policy for issuing Kisan Credit Cards to women for creating livelihood through livestock practices and agricultural processing. For empowering women government made provision of Home Science wing in every Krishi Vigyan Kendra. Beside all efforts, there is still a wide gender gap in the state which may be addressed properly for overall development of women and the society in particular and state and nation in general. The paper tries to analyze the role women play in agricultural development of Bihar and the issues confronting them.