Promoting agricultural education among Rural women: a critical intervention for sustaining farm and home

Abstract

In India, about 833 million people constituting 68.84% of the population live in rural areas, of which 405.17 million (ie 48.6%) are women. Out of 481.7 million workers in India, 348.5 million constituting 72.3% live in rural areas. Similarly, out of 149.8 million women workers in India, 81.3% live in rural areas. Further, 77.3% of the women workers living in rural areas are engaged as cultivators and agricultural labourers1. In states like Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Raja sthan, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram, the proportion is more than 80%. Though the proportion of women workers in agriculture is decreasing like that of the men workers, which is quite obvious and natural as development progresses, the stake of rural women for agriculture continues to be high. It is this population that supports Indian agricul