Awareness and Access to Information on Agriculture: An Insight into the Women Farmers of Bakhtiyarnagar, Uttar Pradesh

Even though they spend more than half their working hours directly engaged in agricultural activities, the women of Bakhtiyarnagar village do not identify themselves as ‘farmers’. While access to agricultural information remains limited, the Centre for Gender and Environment (CGE) identified several other emerging issues faced by women farmers on their visit to the village.

Nestled in the Malihabad tehsil of Lucknow district in Uttar Pradesh, India, Bakhtiyar Nagar has a total population of 2480, out of which 1,137 are women.

This visit?was conducted on 24th March 2023, with the objective of understanding the need for information and training of women farmers in the area, particularly with regard to health, sustainable agricultural activities, and the impact of climate change.

The villagers’ main source of livelihood is farming and chikankari work. Poultry farming has also become more widespread in the village. The women were primarily engaged in the farming of eggplant, ridged gourd, spinach, pumpkin, cabbage, marigold, and livestock. Most women stated that they did not identify themselves as farmers and said that the farming work was done by the men, and that they only supported the male farmers.

?The primary issues highlighted by the women farmers included:

-?????Poor water quality

-?????Problems with burning wood for fuel

-?????Inadequate educational opportunities

-?????Lack of food security or financial security

?“The food (chokar) for livestock has become extremely expensive and is now sold at around 50 for 1500 rs which barely lasts a week - sometimes we have to decide whether to feed the livestock or our children,” said Santoshi.?

There were no appropriate solid waste processing units or any other systems set up in the village, due to which the solid waste was thrown around the field and in small ponds.

Further, the poultry farms were also set up in the middle of the fields. We also observed some newly established poultry farms violating the siting criteria of CPCB guidelines for poultry farms in 2021. They were less than 100m from a village waterbody that feeds into the agricultural fields. There was intense odour and the facility was less than 500m from the residential area of the village. It is a source of nuisance for the villagers. The facility was located less than 10m from village roads.

Pesticide Safety:?Women farmers are not only actively involved in agricultural activities but also involved in the work of buying and spraying pesticides.

When asked about the information they had about the safe use of pesticides “We just get what the dealers ask us to buy according to the season and the crop, there is no training or information, we do everything on our own” said another woman farmer. They were farming as per their own knowledge and have no training or access to information about farming activities and technology.

The use of pesticides was also done as per the suggestion and guidance of the dealer of the pesticide and they have had no training from either the company or government around the safe use of pesticides.

Furthermore, they also do not have information on the safe disposal of pesticide bottles, in fact, there was no provision for any kind of disposal whatsoever and the waste had to be discarded in the open due to a lack of waste disposal systems.

Agricultural information:?They have no access to information about the quantity that should be used, the crop combination, etc. A few farmers have now switched to organic farming which poses its own challenges.

Firewood problems: Due to widespread poverty, all households interviewed reported using firewood as cooking fuel, which is known to have serious health impacts and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

This visit helped the team to understand the pressing issues of women farmers in the village and also the environment and agricultural practices in the village. Further steps need to be taken towards research and investigation around understanding the issues deeply and coming up with a solution with community and stakeholder participation.