The second talk in the newly formed ‘Gender in Focus’ dialogue series was an inspiring conversation between Dr. Oliver King Israel of MSSRF with eight successful and gritty women farmers from diverse regions of Tamil Nadu held in Chennai on 24^th October, 2024. Opening talk in the ‘Gender in Focus’ dialogue series was by Prof Madhura Swaminathan on ‘Rural Women and the Political Economy of Food Systems Transformation in India‘.

From your left- Govindamma- A horticulturalist for 35 years hailing from Nallavur village in Vilippuram, Manjula- a young inland fisherwoman from Killai in Cudallore, Tamizhselvi- a fish worker from Vaaniyoor in Kanyakumari, Muthulakshmi- an experienced paddy farmer from Pudukottai, Kalarani- previously a tailor and now an active farmer from Kannivadi in Dindigul, Vennila a young farmer from Kolli Hills, Parameshwari- a millet farmer from Kolli Hills and at the far right end is Usharani- an experienced farmer from Embalam in Puducherry.

While they all come with diverse experiences from varied socioeconomic contexts and producing food in different landscapes with differential access to productive resources, what held them together were their passion for agriculture, their aspirations for a better future and their strength to negotiate both private and public patriarchy. In many cases, as their men exited agriculture to enter non-farm work, they were left to manage their farms on their own. They were severely limited by changing climate, poor access to irrigation facilities, technologies, formal credit, market and scientific knowledge which was reflected in very poor crop productivity. Poor farm incomes made their situation untenable to an extent that some of them like Govindamma had to leave her land fallow for many years and work as a daily wage worker in other people’s farms for survival.

Interestingly, all of them mentioned how livestock farming emerged as a major avenue for them to compensate for the losses they incurred when crop production failed to ensure decent household incomes. Nonetheless, they all mentioned that things began to slowly change because of organisations like MSSRF that recognized women’s contributions to agriculture and imparting them with skills and technical knowledge to improve agricultural productivity, which was further aided by the introduction of government programs that incentivized their contributions.

The non-governmental development sector organisations have played a major role in India in filling the gaps that was left by the retreat of the government-run agriculture extension services and encouraged a horizontal learning approach. Over a period, with better access to technology, productive resources, irrigation facilities and knowledge about good practices in organic farming, our narrators were able to improve their productivity significantly. Rather than merely focusing on improving their profitability, they focused on inculcating scientific practices to produce good food for all. They reached out to experts who helped them shift to bio-inputs and cultivate crops that are more suitable for the specific ecological context. Farmers like Parameswari were one of the early adopters in Kolli Hills re-introduced cultivation of traditional varieties of millets to the region which was increasing being replaced by tapioca.

Gradually, these farmers themselves began to venture out and seek new knowledge and technology about organic farming. In fact, Kalarani reports, with a huge smile, “now all my villagers come to me with all kinds of doubts- right from how to use to a smart phone to new information on organic farming practices.”

Most of them are now either members or leaders of Farmer producer companies that have helped them market their produce better. For instance, Tamilselvi, hailing from the fisher community in Kanyakumari said that while earlier women’s income came only from selling fresh fish, the fish producer company and access to new post-harvest technologies helped them produce high quality dry fish and processed fish products that has a huge market potential.

Summing up their gendered journeys as farmers over the years, Muthulakshmi eloquently declared “With support from MSSRF, we have come a long way- from being dependent housewives to farmers, then to scientists and now to entrepreneurs.”

However, the inspiring journey that Muthulakshmi talks about has never been easy for none of them. Some of them were ridiculed by men in their family, some others endured domestic violence when they expressed their aspirations to venture out of the four walls of their homes. Over the years, their success as profit-making farmers has definitely improved their status at home and in their villages. Manjula, a young fisherwoman, spoke about how she transformed from being an underconfident person to now challenging local leaders and questioning them publicly about their corrupt practices.

Furthermore, their earnings have  became a major source for the upward mobility of the family. Though their status has improved, not much change has occurred in the gendered division of labour within the households. With very little support from their spouses and other family members to share their housework and care responsibilities, they are burdened by their roles as wives, mothers, farmers, community leaders and company administrators. What seem to have helped them preserve their energies despite being overworked is their aspiration to do better for themselves and their communities.

Today, all of them play important agential roles in the community. A few of them have been able to travel a long way both socially and even physically. Some of them have travelled to bigger Indian cities like Chennai and New Delhi to share their experiences as successful farmers, while farmers like Usharani won a National Virtual Academy Fellowship and travelled to Geneva to talk about her experiences as a food producer in a global platform.

It was heartwarming to observe the camaraderie that these women from very diverse origins shared with each other.

We honor and appreciate the hardships they have endured, the obstacles have to overcome and still managed to make a positive impact in agriculture and food production.