The stooped labour of women rice farmers

From: Shiza Malik, Aug 10, 2017 in Dawn

It’s a sweltering June day in Muridke in Sheikhupura district in Punjab. The harsh summer sun glints off of the rice paddies which cover thousands of acres in this area. Some of the world’s finest Basmati rice is grown here. Dotting these paddies are the colourful figures of hundreds of women bent over the sodden earth, manually planting each seedling.

Razia Bibi and her daughters wade through the pesticide filled muddy sludge, which fills the field. They hold bunches of seedlings in one hand and use the other to swiftly place each plant into the earth at a specific distance. Doing this work for every summer of their lives has made their movements almost mechanical and working in large groups, they manage to transplant rice over large swathes of land each day. But, the land they work on is not theirs, neither is the rice they grow.

The working conditions are harsh; the water that fills the fields is full of leeches and corrosive chemicals. Each day someone in the group collapses from the heat. The wages are abysmal. But, Razia is a widow with six children, two of whom have polio. So in a place like Muridke, her options are limited.

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Mountain women live and work with bent backs

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Durga Devi deftly digs up a fistful of rice saplings and transplants them on to an empty space in the pliable soil. As her hands work without a pause, so does her tongue. She chatters non-stop with Chandrakala Devi, her sister-in-law, who is transplanting rice in another corner of their field. They talk about their children, the food they have cooked, the weather, and other household matters.

“Old age caught up with us while we were working,” Chandrakala laughingly tells VillageSquare.in, as she progresses through the field. At 34, Chandrakala considers herself an old woman.

Durga and Chandrakala spend the entire time in the field bent over double, progressing a step at a time through their little plot of land in Mandal village of Chamoli district in Uttarakhand. Their work is strenuous, leaves them with aches and pains, but they must continue. They are surrounded by mountains, and a stream gurgles down the slopes near the fields. The Himalayan village is home to 108 families, and has a population of 452.

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Scaling up the System of Rice Intensification in India

See the original article in Farming Matters here

Authors: BISWANATH SINHA & TUSHAR DASH

It is said that ‘rice is grown on women’s backs’. Globally, women provide between 50 and 90 percent of the labour in rice fields. They perform backbreaking tasks like seedling removal, transplanting and weeding in bent posture and under wet conditions for more than 1000-1500 hours per hectare. In addition, they are exposed to chemicals. Women working in flooded fields for long hours come into contact with various disease causing vectors exposing them to multiple health risks like intestinal to skin diseases and female urinary and genital ailments. This affects their ability to work and earn, and furthermore, it drains out their money on health care, sometimes making them indebted.

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Prasanna – India

Sowing the Seed of Hope

(From The Hindu Times)

Winner of the State Award in Agriculture, 32 years old P. Prasanna is a role model for women aspiring to become farmers

From an unknown entity, P. Prasanna has now become a household name in the tiny Tiruppalai Village after she rose to fame bagging Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Special Award this year for her achievement in agriculture. She recorded high yield of paddy through ‘semmai nel sagupadi’ (System of Rice Intensification).

She reaped 3,223 kilos of TRY 3 variety of paddy with just two kilos of the seed planted in 50 cents in 130 days. It was the highest yield adopting SRI method in the State for 2014-15. The award carried Rs.5 lakhs cash and a medal.

Women involved in farming activities is nothing new but there are only handful of them who are farmers. Though 75 percent of the agriculture work from sowing seeds to planting saplings, removing weeds and harvesting paddy are done by women, not many go on to become a farmer. “They find it difficult to balance between household duties and field work,” says Prasanna, “but what they miss here is just little knowledge about technical inputs in agriculture and expertise in man management. I focussed on these points and that stood me in good stead,” says Prasanna.

Hailing from Kancharampettai Village on the periphery of Madurai, Prasanna’s interest in agriculture is deep rooted as her father is also a farmer. “My father used to take me to the farms when I was young and involve me in every activity from performing rituals to sowing the seeds and harvesting the crop. It motivated me and I made it a habit to visit the fields. It continues even now,” says Prasanna, who is also working as science teacher in a private school.

Married to a peasant M. Padmanaban of Tiruppalai Village, she was able to protect her interests in agriculture. The Chief Minister’s Award for farmers inspired her and knowing her interest the agriculture department encouraged her to enrol for it.

“I visited the agriculture research centre in Thanjavur and got the TRY 3 variety. I sowed the seeds in around 50 cents of land in Chinnapatti near Chathirapatti Village. I used natural fertilisers in strict compliance with the Government guidelines. At every stage, adjudicators from the department visited my farm to record the growth. Even the colours of the leaves were noted down by the officers and they sounded positive. The success behind the high yield was the space I left between two saplings. The 22.5 cm space on all sides ensured sufficient sunlight. Water requirement is also less in this method. Finally, I harvested in February 2015. On that day itself the officials sealed all the grains and took them to the godown. Only a week before this Republic Day I got the information from the department that I have won the award. My four-year long dream came true,” she beams.

Prasanna has made it into a practice to visit the field every morning and evening and full day during weekends. She regularly updates herself and tries to implement innovative methods. She also evinces keen interest in terrace gardening. “Now, I am planning to use drip irrigation in sugarcane cultivation. Not many in my area have attempted this method. Hope I get the desired results,” she says.