SRINAGAR, INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR – Zahida Begum, 48, is a farmer in Kakapora village in Pulwama district, which is known as the “Rice Bowl” of Indian-administered Kashmir.
Begum has been a farmer since she was a child. She says she had no time to study because of various agricultural responsibilities, and she continued farming after her marriage.
A lot rides on her and other women’s ability to farm.
“I still remember the year when I had to postpone my daughter’s marriage, as the rice fields were withering due to the scarcity of rain,” she says of 2010.
Begum and her family tried watering the paddy cultivation, she says as she easily makes her way through a field of rice plantings in ankle-deep water.
“But it used to get dried up in no time,” she says. “We were not able to earn anything from that cultivation.”
But the largest gap in farming began in 1989, when Begum had to quit her active role in the fields because of ongoing conflict in the Kashmir Valley.
Since 1947, Kashmir has been divided into two territories disputed by India and Pakistan. Conflict in Indian-administered Kashmir erupted in 1989 when a separatist movement called for freedom from Indian rule.
Begum says her entire family used to remain indoors during the peak of the conflict, making farming impossible. During the following years, she and other women in her household didn’t go into their fields for fear of becoming targets.
“Our noninvolvement badly impacted our household,” she says. “But our men preferred our safety over our active engagement in agricultural activities. We were scared to move out due to the vulnerability of getting caught.”
As the presence of soldiers lessens in her district, Begum is optimistic that she will again be able to take up the role of farmer in her family.
“Things have not changed completely,” she says. “But we have again started to accompany our men and to play an active role in agricultural farming, as our valley cannot afford to ignore women anymore.”
This year, when the fields were abundant with golden brown crops during the harvesting season, Begum was out in her 50 kanals, or 6.25 acres, of paddy fields to help her family to reap the crop.
“I started to work in the fields from 9 a.m and continue [un]til 7 p.m and work with our men without any fear,” Begum says. “Compared to [the] ’90s, the situation has improved a lot, so we came out of our cocoon to cut the paddy crop instead of getting laborers.”
Begum beams as she says plenty of rain and a favorable climate have allowed her to irrigate and produce a bumper crop, or a surplus of paddy, this year.
After two decades of danger surrounding conflict in Kashmir, women are returning to farming, and young educated women are joining them. Kashmir’s increased focus on technology and research offers more opportunities for women to take trainings to increase their agricultural yields. As a result, paddy production has increased. Female farmers still face challenges, such as traditional expectations for women to marry and run the household. Going forward, women ask for more respect for their contributions and financial and technical support to continue to develop their farming.
There was a drastic decline in the percentage of women working in agriculture in the Kashmir Valley between 1981 and 2001, according to the Jammu and Kashmir censuses from these years. In Pulwama, the 60 percent of women working in agriculture in 1981 shrunk to 13.5 percent in 2001. In Kupwara and Islamabad, two of the districts worst affected by the conflict, this number declined from nearly 80 percent to about 9 percent.
Now, women are not only rejoining the sector, but a new generation is also studying to improve their skills in the field. Holding her degree in agricultural science firmly, Rabia Jan, 23, says she felt proud the day she graduated from Government College for Women after becoming the first educated woman in her family. But when she was unable to find a good job, her parents began arranging her marriage.
In order to escape the offer, Jan started farming in Pulwama. Initially, she says she faced criticism from her family members for choosing work that most illiterate women do.
“My family was unaware of the role that education can play in facilitating social and economic progress,” Jan says.
Her family believes women should stay indoors, receive some education, and then marry and rear children, she says.
This is true of many families in Kashmir, says Rohina Fayaz, a researcher pursuing her doctorate in agricultural science at Kashmir University.
“Although agriculture is the major occupation in rural Kashmir, there are many families who prefer education over their ancestral occupation of farming,” Fayaz says.
But Jan says it just takes women like herself to show their families what can they can achieve.
“I made them to believe of women empowerment and the effective role that educated women can play for the all-round development,” Jan says.
The Jammu and Kashmir state government established Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology in 1982 to boost the agricultural sector, which was ailing from a lack of scientific knowledge about how to produce high-yield crops, according to university officials and records. The university now drives research and development of new seed varieties and farming techniques.
The university offers many programs geared specifically toward women, says Shafaat Ahmed, a researcher at the university. In addition to pursuing degrees, women can participate in short-term courses, workshops and awareness programs. He says researchers in the field often ask women what they need for improved cultivation, then identify the areas in which they can offer more training.
“At present, university is absolutely working to get the feedback from farmers across the valley where more and more women-initiating programs can be held by the university in the near possible future,” Ahmed says.
He says more women are already taking interest in the agricultural sector, though there are no records of the exact number of female farmers who participate in the trainings.
Jan was one among the 30 female farmers sponsored by Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology to go on a 10-day study tour outside the state during March 2011. The women visited various farms and research stations across India to learn about the latest technology to increase crop production.
“We got a chance to interact with agriculture scientists and farmers, besides bringing latest technology and applying that in our fields and also disseminate the education among other farmers,” Jan says. “Fortunately, we successfully replaced the old seeds of the paddy crops with an improved quality, which led to a bumper production this year.”
Jan says her family is proud of her. They now see the role of women in boosting the economy, she says.
“Let us not wait for the men to show us the way,” Jan says. “We have the right to become empowered and live a sustainable livelihood for ourselves.”
Ahmed says that women play an indispensable role in paddy cultivation.
“It has been found that about 80 to 85 percent of the operations are conducted by women, both along with men folk as well as single-handedly,” Ahmed says.
Some of the activities in which women play a major role are seedbed preparations, transplantation, weeding, harvesting, and sprinkling of fertilizers, insecticides, weedicides and fungicides in the fields, he says.
Paddy production increased by 5 to 6 percent in 2012 from 2011, when the state produced 500,000 metric tons, according to the Jammu and Kashmir Agriculture Production Department.
“The increase is due to the implementation of scientific methods of farming, which attracted more and more farmers into the agriculture sector,” says Shafiq Wani, director of research at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology. “So both scientific methods as well as women[’s] participation played a role.”
Wani says that favorable weather conditions this year also increased paddy production.
Still, challenges exist for women in agriculture.
Farmer Jameela Yousuf, 35, says balancing farming with household chores overburdens women.
“I belong to a poor family, so I can’t afford many laborers,” says Yousuf, a resident of the Ganderbal district. “So I prefer to reduce the strenuous labor of my family.”
Yousuf, like Begum, had to take years off from her labor in the field during the height of conflict. Now that she is once again able to work, she says her family does not value her contribution as a woman.
“I spend the same time that my husband does, but still my work is being overlooked,” Yousuf says. “Farming needs sufficient time, and everyone spends their maximum time in the various activities in extreme weather conditions.”
Many conservative families are reluctant to allow women to take part in agriculture, Fayaz says. They may frown on active roles outside the home and prefer women to work as homemakers.
“But, over the years, there is a change,” she says, “and families don’t shy away in getting education and knowledge about various new and innovative methods of technology and apply that in farming for earning more benefits.”
Wani says the bulk of the population is engaged in farming, which is a family occupation, so the role of women in agriculture now and in the future is crucial.
“The participation of women is indispensable,” he says. “And more and more women should utilize the benefits of farming by using latest technologies, which we are providing besides public awareness.”
Wani says that the effective use of technology and the entire workforce will enable Kashmir to increase its agricultural production, which he calls the backbone of the state economy.
Begum calls for increased support for women in farming.
“Women should be given more access to credit, land ownership and get training for the overall development of the sector,” she says.
Fayaz says the government and all concerned agencies can play a pivotal role by creating different schemes, such as guaranteed subsidies, to attract more women to the agricultural sector.
“Men should also be informed to respect the women and consider them equal in land ownership, credit flow and other training-cum-orientation programs,” Fayaz says. “Every stakeholder should work in consensus for the tangible results of agriculture in Kashmir.”
Jan encourages women to promote as well as to develop their contributions.
“We should try to raise the awareness of the contribution women can make for agricultural development and also increase the index of economic, social and other aspects affecting their status,” Jan says. “Women should work in unison to provide learning opportunity to develop new skills and access to information and networks.”
