In a significant move aimed at bringing women working in agriculture into the formal farming ecosystem, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday introduced the Women Farmers' Empowerment Bill in the Legislative Assembly during the ongoing Monsoon Session.
The proposed legislation seeks to recognise women engaged in farming and allied sectors as farmers, irrespective of whether they own agricultural land. The government believes the law will help bridge a long-standing gap, where women actively involved in agriculture have often remained outside the ambit of farmer-centric welfare schemes due to the lack of land ownership.
At the heart of the Bill is the introduction of a 'Woman Farmer Certificate', which will serve as an official identity document for eligible women. The certificate will enable them to avail government schemes, subsidies, institutional finance, agricultural services and market support. It will be issued through Gram Sabhas and urban local bodies, while applicants whose requests are rejected will have the right to appeal.
The legislation also covers landless women engaged in allied agricultural activities, including fisheries, livestock rearing, poultry farming and the collection of forest produce, acknowledging their contribution to the rural economy.
Apart from creating a legal identity for women farmers, the Bill proposes setting up a statewide database of women farmers and establishing the Maharashtra State Women Farmers' Fund to support their welfare and economic empowerment.
To oversee its implementation, the government has proposed a three-tier institutional framework comprising the Women Farmers' Empowerment Council, State Monitoring Committees and the Women Farmers' Empowerment Cell.
The council will include the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Ministers, Agriculture Minister and other senior government officials as ex officio members.
The Bill also provides for the appointment of Women Farmer Support Officers at the district and taluka levels from among existing government officials. These officers will help women obtain certificates, access government benefits and adopt improved agricultural practices.
Introducing the Bill in the Assembly, Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Dattatraya Bharane said, “The agricultural
policies, schemes, and extension systems are largely gender-neutral. However, the requirement of land ownership as a precondition for access to most agricultural schemes and underlying entitlements has rendered such schemes inaccessible to many women farmers, since only a very small percentage of these women own agricultural land. As such, women who cultivate family or community land without holding formal titles to the land are often counted as agricultural labourers rather than farmers.”
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had earlier noted that women account for more than 81 per cent of participation in Maharashtra's agricultural sector but continue to remain without formal recognition as farmers.
Explaining the need for the Bill, the government said women working on family or community land without formal ownership are often treated as agricultural labourers rather than farmers, leaving them excluded from several government schemes, credit facilities and market support.
“This systemic non-recognition of women farmers and their agricultural labour is significant and leads to other forms of exclusion, including, but not limited to, discrimination in access to schemes, credit and markets,” the government said.
