Contribution of Tribal Women Farmer to the Agriculture Sector

Abstract

In India agriculture continues to be the main source of rural livelihoods particularly in newlineareas with a tribal population where socioeconomic conditions are still shaped by newlinesubsistence farming. Because of its large tribal population and agrarian foundation newlineKandhamal district, Odisha stands out among these. The goal of this study is to examine newlinethe gendered aspects of rural development decision-making and labor contribution newlinewithin the local agricultural economy by examining the type scope and effectiveness of newlinetribal women involvement in agriculture. The tribal women actively engage in every newlineaspect of agriculture including sowing, transplanting, weeding, harvesting, and postharvest newlineprocessing. Nonetheless their contributions are frequently overlooked in official newlinedocuments and continue to be underappreciated in discussions of policy. The study uses newlinea mixed-methods approach to fill this gap. Structured questionnaires were used to newlinecollect quantitative data from 472 tribal blocks that were chosen and focus groups and newlineinterviews yielded qualitative information. Utilizing man-day estimation techniques, the newlineamount of labor contributed by women to various agricultural tasks was measured. newline