The government will take up the issue of recording women farmers and cultivators in land records with the departments of revenue and land resources, agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said on Monday. The minister said women farmers have a very important role to play in the agriculture sector and that 18% of the agricultural households in India were led by women. Minister said he had asked state government officials to address concerns of women farmers in land issues, marketing, extension service and knowledge on government policies. In the absence of land ownership, women are deprived from accessing institutional credit, extension services and other government entitlements including relief measures, said Ashok Dalwai. As men from villages increasingly migrate to cities, women are left behind to manage farms and if they don’t have credit, the farming suffers, said Dalwai. With land revenue being a state subject, the states will have to *amend the Revenue Act* and make it compulsory to ensure women in the household also be made owners of the agriculture land, he said, adding that out of 13.7 crore farm land holdings only 2.02 crore is under women. Further, the agriculture minister said the government has allocated more than 30% funds for women under various major schemes, programs and development-related activities in order to bring women into agricultural mainstream, he said. In addition to agriculture, women have been making exceptional contribution in horticulture, fisheries, animal husbandry, beekeeping etc.
Government to push for adding woman farmers’ names in land records
