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PROGRAMMES/
EXPEREINCES
The erstwhile Farm Women
Development Unit of Directorate of Extension has been responsible for
planning, formulation, execution, monitoring & evaluation of special projects/programmes
for women in agriculture and allied sectors. These projects have remained in
operation for over 23 years and have been instrumented in providing training,
extension, input, managerial, entrepreneurial and other support services to
the small and marginal farmers in 143 districts of 21 States of the country.
All these projects have aimed at strengthening agriculture
base and augmenting rural incomes with a focus on skill-transfer through a
combination of theoretical training & practical demonstration supplemented
with a ‘hands on’ experience in the fields of women farmers. Different
approaches & strategies were followed in all these projects to bring about a
significant improvement in their status and income levels.
These projects included:
A.
CENTRAL SECTOR SCHEME OF WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE
(WITH DOMESTIC FUNDING)
The Central Sector Scheme of
Women in Agriculture was launched on pilot basis during the VIII Plan in one
district each of the 7 selected States of the country viz. Punjab, Haryana,
U.P. Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Rajasthan. It was extended
during the IX Plan period to one district each of 8 North-Eastern Hill States
namely Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Tripura,
Assam and Sikkim to cover one district each of 15 States in all with a
total budget outlay of Rs.4.96 crores.
The Scheme
envisaged to motivate, mobilize and organize women farmers to form new groups
or identify and consolidate the existing groups of practicing women farmers.
All the agricultural support services such as technology, input, extension,
credit etc. were channelized through the network of these groups. To ensure
sustainability, most Farm Women Group were registered as Registered Society or
with Panchayat/District Agriculture Office.
A composite
package of recurrent training was provided in the form of Village-based
Training to women farmers of Phase-I districts (8 NEH States) and
Sandwich/Refresher Training to the women farmers of Phase-II districts (7 old
Districts/States) with a view to help them adopt the new technologies in
agriculture and allied sectors such as Crop Husbandry, Agronomy, Soil
Sciences, Plant Protection, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry etc. Thrust was
also being given to the emerging areas in which women have special aptitude
and skills such as organic farming, vermi-composting, bio-technology, nursery
raising including Tissue Culture of Horticulture plants etc. In addition,
the women farmers were trained in managerial, entrepreneurial and
decision-making skills.
Activities:
The scheme
had following main Training & Extension components:
Training
Component:
- Sandwich/Reinforcement
Training of Farm Women of Phase-II districts (7 old district) (for 10 days
in first year & 5 days in subsequent years);
- Village-Based/Refresher
Training (for 3 days each at 3 different intervals in first year and again
at 2 different intervals in subsequent years);
- Link Workers Training for
the Conveners of the Farm Women Groups (for 3 days at 2 different
intervals);
- Induction/Refresher
Training of Facilitators (for 4 weeks duration in first year and 2 weeks in
subsequent years).
Extension
Component:
- Result/Method
Demonstration in the fields of Women Farmers (4 demonstrations/Farm Women
Group i.e. 2 in each cropping season);
- Organization of Mahila
Goshties (1 per year involving approximately 600 Farm Women);
- Study Tours (2 per year –
one within & one outside the State)
Impact:
The impact of the scheme has been assessed through the Reports of the
Review Teams/Missions which have revealed that the Scheme had a positive
impact on the general awareness levels of women farmers and has achieved a
major breakthrough in addressing their technological and extension needs.
These studies have further revealed that the production and income levels of
women farmers had markedly increased after they had put to practice the
technologies/skills learnt under the Scheme which has led to their overall
empowerment specially with reference to their access to information, training,
skill up gradation, capacity building, inputs etc.
B. EXTERNALLY AIDED PROJECTS
FOR TRAINING OF WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE
(1) Danish supported Farm Women Projects:
(i)
Women Youth Training and Extension Project (WYTEP): Karnataka
Women Youth Training
and Extension Project, Karnataka (WYTEP) was signed between Govt. of India and
Royal Danish Government in September, 1982 for a period of 5 years. The Phase
I of the project covered the districts where the Training Centres of the
Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Karnataka existed. Thus 8 Farmers Training
Centres and 2 Rural Development Training Centres at Kumta were established
which were chosen to organize the programme.
The implementation of second Phase commenced in July 1989 with a financial
outlay of Rs.18.89 crores. Apart from consolidating the achievements gained in
first phase, the geographical coverage of the project was extended to all the
districts of the State except Bidar district. The second phase was extended to
run upto May, 2000.
The project in its third phase which ran from June, 2002 to 1.5.2005 covered
all the districts with a total cost of Rs.44.93 crores. Over 7000 Farm Women
Groups have been constituted under the project and over 2.10 lakh women have
been trained.
(ii) Tamil Nadu Women in Agriculture (TANWA): Tamil Nadu
The Tamil Nadu Women in Agriculture (TANWA) was signed between Government of
India and Royal Danish Government in June, 1986. The project was for a period
of 7 years with a financial outlay of Rs.3.21 crores. The project started
operating in Tamil Nadu from October, 1986. However, the project was
implemented in six districts which were later reorganized into ten districts
of Tamil Nadu.
The Phase II of the project was signed on 1st October, 1993
for an amount of Rs.33.92 crores covering all the districts of the State
excluding Ramanathapuram (this district was completely covered during Phase I)
and Chennai. Phase II was initially signed for a duration of 7 years, which
was later, extended upto March, 2003. 2000 Farm Women Groups have been
constituted under the programme & over 1.03 lakh women have been benefitted.
(ii)
Training and Extension for Women in Agriculture (TEWA):
Orissa
Training and Extension for Women in Agriculture (TEWA) was
signed between Government of India and Royal Danish Embassy in December, 1987.
The project was planned to have 2 phases of 5 years each. The first phase was
implemented from January, 1988 and was completed on 30th June,
1995. The Phase-I of the project was implemented in 4 erstwhile districts
namely Bolangir, Dhenkanal, Ganjam and Puri districts of Orissa. The second
phase of TEWA which commenced on 1.7.95 with a financial outlay of Rs.11.85
crores concluded on 31.3.2003. Four additional districts namely Keonjhar,
Sundargarh, Koraput and Sambalpur were covered in the second phase. 10,143
Farm Women Groups have been constituted under the programme and over 6.71 lakh
women farmers have been benefitted.
(iv) Madhya Pradesh Women in Agriculture (MAPWA): Madhya Pradesh
The Madhya Pradesh Women in Agriculture (MAPWA) project was
signed between Government of India and Royal Danish Government in
November,1993 for a period of 5 years with a financial outlay of Rs.6.24
crores. Phase-I of the project that concluded on 31.1.02 covered 9 districts
namely Jabalpur, Nasinghpur, Chhindwara, Mandla, Rewa, Shahdol, Umaria,
Bilaspur and Raisen. Phase-I of the project completed on 31st
January, 2002. The Phase-II of the project which commenced from 1st
Feb., 2002 covered 14 districts namely Jabalpur, Mandla, Narsingpur,
Chindwada, Rewa, Shahdol, Raisen, Katni,, Umaria, Satna, Seoni, Anoopshahar,
Balaghat & Dindori with a total cost of Rs.13.12 crores has concluded on
31.12.05. 4043 Farm Women Groups have been constituted under the programme
and approximately 60,000 women farmers have been benefitted with the project
intervention.
II. Dutch supported Farm Women Projects:
(v) Training of Women in Agriculture (TWA): Gujarat
The Training of Women in Agriculture Project (TWA) was signed
between the Government of India and the Government of Netherlands in May,
1989. The Phase I of the project essentially included 6 districts of Gujarat
viz. Dahod, Surat, Banaskantha, Bhavnagar, Junagadh and Kutch
and was sanctioned for five years with a total cost of Rs.4.97 crores.
Looking into the positive impact of the project on productivity
and women’s decision-making abilities, the Netherlands Government agreed to
extend the project for another 5 years from 1997 to 2003. The Phase-II of the
project was sanctioned from July for a total cost of Rs.12 crores covering 6
additional districts namely Valsad, Broach, Sabarkantha, Rajkot,
Surendranagar and Amreli. The project has been concluded on 31.9.2003.
596 Farm Women Groups have been constituted under the programme and
approximately 1.67 lakh women farmers have been trained.
(vi) Andhra Pradesh Women in Agriculture (ANTWA): Andhra Pradesh
The Andhra Pradesh Training of Women in Agriculture
Project (ANTWA) was signed between Government of India and Government of
Netherlands in August, 1993. The project was for a period of 5 years with a
total cost of Rs.5.87 crores. The project started operating in Andhra Pradesh
only in August, 1994. The Phase I of the project was being implemented in 6
districts of Andhra Pradesh namely Rangareddy, Nalgonda, Kurnool, Ananthpur,
Prakasan and Vishakhapatnam.
The Phase II of the project was signed in August, 2001 for a
total cost of Rs.44.03 crores covering 6 more districts of the State namely
Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Cuddapah, Chittoor, Khammam and Warangal. 1777
Farm Women Groups have been constituted under the programme. While Phase II
was for the duration of 6 years i.e. upto November, 2007, however, due to the
Shift in Policy on bilateral funding, Dutch support has been withdrawn from
‘ANTWA’ project w.e.f. 1.4.04. Realizing the huge investments made in this
project in terms of time, resources and efforts and also to sustain the
benefits accrued under this project so far, DEA has taken a decision to
continue selected Dutch supported projects including ANTA projects with DFID
internal funding under Additional Central Assistance.
The activities of the programme are accordingly being supported
with Macro Management support.
III. UNDP-GOI FOOD SECURITY PROGRAMME
The Government of India and UNDP signed an agreement on 13th
February, 1998 for funding the Program Support for Food Security involving US
$ 13 millions to be given by UNDP for Five Years starting from 1st
April, 1998.
Six sub-programmes were under implementation under the umbrella
programme. These were: (i) Development & large Scale Adoption of Hybrid Rice
Technology by ICAR (ii) Maize Based Cropping System for Food Security in India
by TMOP&M Division of DOAC; (iii) Sustainable Dry land Agriculture by Mahila
Sanghams: Andhra Pradesh (5 districts); (iv) Empowerment of Women for Food
Security in U.P. ( 11 districts); (v) (a) Strengthening Natural Resource
Management and Sustainable Livelihoods for Women of Tribal Areas of Orissa ( 7
districts); (b) Supplementary Programme for Cyclone affected districts of
Orissa (4 districts); & (vi) Management Support for Food
Security.
The umbrella programme laid focus on drought-prone and rain-fed agricultural
areas in a holistic and sustainable way. Redevelopment of fallows for
productive agriculture, providing women’s groups access to croplands through
long-term lease of dry-land, storage/distribution of locally grown subsistence
crops by the women’s groups and processing for easy cooking and marketing etc
were inbuilt components of these sub programmes.
The sub-programmes also aimed at enhancing the capacities of poor
farmers in rain-fed and other areas by increasing production and productivity
through training, demonstration and exposure to best practices. On-going
initiatives involving women in agriculture were being supported by providing
appropriate technologies for organized and trained
farmwomen.
Under the women specific UNDP sub-programmes in the States of U.P., A.P. and
Orissa, 2035 farm women groups have been mobilized and 50,875 farm women have
been directly trained. As against the signed agreement of US $ 13 million
(Rs.45.12 crore) an expenditure of Rs.46 crore has been made taking into
account the difference in dollar: rupee conversion rate.
Impact:
As revealed through an independent Mid Term Evaluation Report (MTER)
of two gender programmes in A.P & Orissa and the desk reviews and field
appraisals of all the three gender sub-programmes, the innovative approaches
viz. improving women’s access to land by long-term leasing of community
wasteland/fallow land to women SHGs for collective farming; land development,
grain storage facilities; seed banks, implements & infrastructure support and
Micro Capital Assistance have proved to be immensely successful. Financial
support in the form of Micro Capital Assistance, has led to procurement of
1041 acres of land on long-term lease for cultivation by 2087 members in 3
States. Further, Food Security at household level has been adequately
strengthened breaking the cycles of indebtedness through internal lending
among group members.
Approximately 50% of Women Groups have over Rs.50,000,
Rs.100,000 in their accounts with the money having been successfully revolved
two to three times.
The dependence on money lenders has substantially reduced and
the lands of women farmers mortgaged to money lender has been got released. | 
