Maharashtra wants better participation of women in agriculture

State allocates more funds for training women in emerging agricultural trends and techniques, reports Sweta Ramanujan-Dixit.

It could eventually ensure lesser friction between a farmer and his wife.

The state government has decided to allocate an additional Rs 1.05 crore for training women in new farming techniques. In July 2006, the state had already set aside nearly Rs 1.42 crore for this purpose.

While this will ensure better participation of women in agriculture it will also lead to lesser quarrels between a farmer and his wife on the use of modern technology.

"A male farmer has a number of things to take care of but his wife concentrates solely on the field. She is not exposed to new techniques. So when her husband wants to implement them she opposes it. This hinders the modernisation of farming techniques," State Agriculture Minister Balasaheb Thorat said.

According to Thorat, if a farmer's wife adopts new agricultural methods it results in better implementation of these techniques. The allocated funds will, thus, be used to provide training at village level, organising exhibitions and conferences and training women promoters to take new agricultural trends to women who work on fields.

According to the Government Resolution that announces this increase in funds, the state will pool in 25 per cent of the total allocation of Rs 2.47 crore while the rest will come from the Centre. The project is already being implemented across the state in phases.

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