Why Are Women Farmers Still Earning Less Despite Driving India’s Agriculture?

Women play a crucial role in India’s agricultural economy, but their contribution continues to receive limited recognition.

Despite accounting for a substantial portion of the agricultural workforce, many women face unequal access to land, finance and other resources needed to improve their productivity and earnings.

According to the figures shown in the newspaper graphic, women account for 64 per cent of India’s total agricultural workforce. They operate only 11.7 per cent of the country’s farmed area, underlining the significant gap between their participation in farming and their control over agricultural assets.

The disparity extends to agricultural earnings. The data shows that women earn around ₹82 for every ₹100 earned by men, reflecting a considerable gender-based income gap in the sector.

Limited access to financial resources further affects women farmers.

The graphic indicates that women’s productivity remains 24 per cent lower than that of men, largely because they have less access to credit, inputs and support services.

Women undertake a significant amount of unpaid agricultural work.

The figures show that 47.7 per cent of women working in agriculture are recorded as unpaid helpers on family farms, compared with 20.2 per cent of men.

This unpaid contribution often remains outside conventional measures of economic productivity, despite its importance to farm operations and household livelihoods.

The data suggest that India could forgo ₹1.2–2 trillion in agricultural output every year, equivalent to around 0.5–0.9 per cent of total output, due to unequal access to resources.

Improving women’s access to land, credit, technology, training and institutional support could therefore strengthen farm productivity while creating wider economic benefits.

Greater recognition of women’s agricultural work could help reduce the persistent gender gap in rural India.

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