‘Land ownership could alter women’s roles in agriculture’

Pradyut Bhattacharjee always felt that the conventional career path–engineering, corporate jobs–wasn’t for him. The idea of sitting in an office just didn't resonate. Instead of following the crowd, he started exploring non-profit work. When PRADAN, a well-known NGO, came to his college for placements, he was curious: Why would an NGO recruit engineers?

He joined PRADAN and started his career in Khunti, Jharkhand, working with marginalised communities. He helped connect them to government programs and improve their farming and livelihood systems. After nearly ten years, he returned to Guwahati.

Today, he’s the executive director of Seven Sisters Development Assistance, where he leads efforts to empower women by forming Self Help Groups (SHGs) and building sustainable livelihood systems.

Challenges

Having worked extensively with rural communities in food, agriculture, and farming, what common challenges have you observed that seem prevalent across different areas?

In Central India, traditional and rudimentary practices are still being followed. Irrigation facilities are minimal, and soil health is poor, resulting in very low yields. Most people rely on rain-fed cultivation, so they typically grow only one crop–usually paddy.

Food security is a major issue as people often don't have enough to eat and depend heavily on government programs. Dietary diversification is also very limited. Within families, due to gender dynamics, women and adolescent girls often have even less to eat, leading to malnutrition.

Are women more affected?

Definitely. Women are the last to eat and often get less food. Despite this, they do the same work as the men, if not more.

There is a lot of diversity in the food crops–everything from millets to vegetables is grown. However, many families sell their produce before consuming it themselves. As a result, their food intake is low and mostly cereal-based.

In contrast, in Assam, many households I worked with didn’t face food security issues because they practised integrated farming. Around their homes, they had ponds, orchards, or small kitchen gardens. However, with population growth and land fragmentation, issues of deprivation have become an issue.

In the tea gardens of Assam, malnutrition is a concern due to low wages and landlessness. People depend on buying food commodities, but their purchasing power is low, leading to acute deprivation in certain communities.

Women are the last to eat and often get less food. Despite this, they do the same work as the men, if not more.

How do self-help groups or collectives help?

We form groups, and the government promotes them too. The first step is mobilising communities into groups, which gives them a sense of solidarity and unity. Every week, each member saves a small amount, like 20-30 rupees. This forms a pool from which members can take small loans as microcredit, reducing their dependence on high-interest money lenders. They can also buy essentials when needed, something they couldn’t do before due to lack of credit.

Through self-help groups, many government schemes have become accessible. Earlier, panchayats and government departments didn’t give much attention to single women. But now, since they are united in multiple groups, they receive more recognition and support.

With access to funds, women are adopting more scientific practices, and diversification is active, which leads to higher incomes for their families. Since these groups are run by women, they are respected, which helps empower them further.

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All about the women

How many women does SeSTA work with?

We currently work with almost 2.5 lakh households. Since our primary clientele is women, you could say we engage with 2.5 lakh women across roughly 25,000 to 30,000 self-help groups. Each group typically has 10 to 12 women.

How has the response been from the women? Are more women joining after seeing others involved?

Yes, but initially, there was a lot of scepticism and opposition from the men. Slowly, as more women joined, they began to see the value. It's now becoming a common program pan India, so it has gained legitimacy. I think there is widespread acceptance around self-help groups now.

However, in a patriarchal society, resistance from men remains. Often, when women attend meetings, the men become very angry. They ask, "Who will take care of household chores like cooking?" In some cases, the loans that women take are actually used by the men.

It will take some time for this to change.

What type of training and education are being provided to the women?

SeSTA’s entire model starts with understanding their current practices and identifying the gaps.

We then sit with them for family-based planning to help them plan around their resources, such as what they can improve, what their aspirations are, and how they can achieve those aspirations. Once the women are ready to take up new activities and practices, we train them using well-designed modules.

Some of the training is classroom-based, where we teach theory, but it’s also practical. We conduct long field demonstrations because many of these women are illiterate, and classroom teaching alone isn't enough. The focus is entirely on enhancing their knowledge, skills and attitudes. Often, when we say farmer, people only picture men.

There’s a lot of work to be done on building their self-esteem. They need to start believing they can be farmers, make decisions, and become technically skilled.

This transformation requires significant effort. It’s a slow process, and we use a lot of tools–audio, visual aids, and videos.

Is there a specific group of women you're helping or training?

We generally avoid working with rich farmers who own large amounts of land or are already employed elsewhere. We primarily work with other farmers, but we categorise them based on their land holdings and abilities. We aim to provide a tailored mix of interventions.

What is the average income of these women farmers?

The baseline income is around Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 per annum, and we’re working to increase it to over Rs 1,00,000 now.

Are there specific crops these women are growing?

It depends on the climate and land availability, but we focus on vegetables and cereals like paddy and maize, and oilseeds like mustard.

All our practices are organic. It’s not just about fertilisers and machinery; we also focus on seeds, water conservation and biodiversity, especially since climate change is becoming increasingly important.

We are promoting climate-friendly farming practices.

In terms of market linkages, how are you helping these women? Is the produce just locally distributed?

When we’re working with a smaller number of farmers, the produce is catered locally, mainly in small bazaars. However, in some areas where we work with a large number of farmers, marketing and securing a good price becomes an issue. In those cases, we separate them into producers and farmers.

We’re also promoting entrepreneurs who help market the products and provide high-quality inputs. In farming, you need good quality seeds and saplings, and the women entrepreneurs are supplying those.

For instance, if one woman entrepreneur caters to, say, 100 farmers, she produces all the necessary supplies and then sells them to the members, making farming easier for everyone.

What support or aid do you expect from the government?

Land registration in the woman’s name. The government should create a policy to incentivise female land ownership because it's a sensitive issue. So far, land is typically not owned by women. Fathers often do not pass land to their daughters, even though there is a law for this. Incentivising land ownership for women would be helpful.

Similarly, getting loans at low interest rates is a major challenge for women farmers and entrepreneurs. More programs could be created to address this.

To make farming easier for women, technology needs to be incorporated to reduce the physical burden. Often, activities like operating a tractor are not seen as women’s work in our society. So, simpler technology should be introduced.

What’s one book, documentary, or show you’d recommend to someone just starting out in farming?

One book that covers the issues and challenges faced by farmers and rural communities is Everybody Loves a Good Drought by P Sainath.

Vandana Shiva’s books are valuable, especially regarding climate change.

I have always studied Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. It’s one of the books that has always inspired me because it was one of the first to talk about the toxic effects of chemicals used in our food and how they enter the food chain.