For most of her adult life, Vandana Sonawane had not driven a vehicle. The farmer from Manegaon village in Sinnar taluka, Nashik, now confidently drives her tractor through her field.
“The last time I rode anything was a bicycle, that too in school,” says Ms. Sonawane. “I was scared at first, but then I thought, women need to gain knowledge if they want to get anywhere in life. Despite my fear, I rode a tractor and it raised a lot of eyebrows.”
Ms. Sonawane went on, undeterred. And when a Marathi newspaper carried her photograph, she had her moment in the sun. Her relatives began to congratulate her.
She is hungry for more. “A lot of us have never even gone to an Agricultural Produce Market Committee. I want to go there to sell my produce, and have learnt how to check the rates (of crops) on my mobile phone.”
Ms. Sonawane’s transformation has come steadily, as women in her village in the drought-hit taluka prepare to learn and experiment with new farm techniques to tackle crop failure.
A corporate social responsibility initiative has ensured that they are responsible for their farms, and have decision-making power as against earlier, when they were workers in the family farm.
“We did not have a say in what crop to grow, what techniques to use, where to sell it. Now, we have our own farmlands and are taking those decisions,” said farmer Jyoti Ambekar.
‘Acknowledge, Empower’
In October 2017, Mahindra & Mahindra unveiled ‘Prerna’, to empower women farmers through its Farm Equipment sector. “With women as the change makers in agriculture, the idea was to acknowledge their contributions and empower them through opportunities to help them become better farmers, thereby improving their lives,” said a company note.
The initiative consists of direct access to knowledge of improved agricultural practices, introduction of farm tools and technology for reducing farm drudgery and increasing productivity, with the ultimate objective to improve income.
In the first phase, Prerna reached out to 40 villages in Odisha over the past 18 months, covering 2,000 women farmers. In its second phase, it covered 60 villages in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Prerna has been working in six clusters across these States for the past six months. The company aims to reach 6,000 women farmers.
In Manegaon, organisers chose 100 women as ‘Champion Farmers’ from among those who have at least one acre land, have access to water and were interested in the initiative. The idea was that these 100 would reach out to 1,000 others.
Sinnar has been drought-prone for years and farmers have traditionally been growing onions and other vegetables. But Prerna introduced green peas in the region as it requires less water.
The innovation did not meet with immediate acceptance. Farmers were apprehensive about growing new crops since water in the region is limited. Most families have continued with their traditional crops and techniques and set aside land for crops like green peas and soyabean.
Farmers are being given constant guidance through WhatsApp. They share pictures of their farm processes and receive tips.
Acheiving a balance
Women were taught how to process seeds using a seed treatment drum that involves putting a medicine in with the seeds for a few hours to improve yield. “If seeds are sowed directly, their germination speed is slow but using this process, it becomes faster,” said Prashant Dudhade of BAIF Development Research Organisation, Prerna’s partner non-governmental organisation.
The farmers would add fertiliser later in the process, but were taught to do so after sowing. “Since we knew they would not agree to organic fertilizers or pesticides immediately, we taught them to balance both,” said Mr. Dudhade.
Women have been also maintaining a record of their farms, from the time they do the sowing to how many times they use fertilisers and pesticides, the date of the first germination, and so on.
The farm equipment and tractors have been of help, although few in the taluka have actually begun to use them. Some cannot afford to lease or buy the equipment, and since it is peak season, most of it is already rented.
“Of the 100 women we trained in using farm equipment, about half decided to take further training and four of them successfully ploughed their farms using a tractor this season. We are hoping the numbers will increase with time,” said Mr. Dudhade.
Prerna has planned a Customer Hiring Centre in the taluka with women as stakeholders. About 10 women will run it, while the rest will be allowed to rent farm equipment. Preference, though, will be given to Prerna women.
The ones who are using the equipment are relieved. “Ploughing using bullocks costs ₹800 per 0.5 acres while through tractors, it only costs ₹600,” said farmer Mathura Sonawane.
For Sangita Sonawane, it was about reducing stress. “Since we women did most of the farm labour, our back, legs and hands would hurt. There is also no escaping the household chores. We were relieved when the equipment was introduced to us,” she said.
Combating stereotypes
The going hasn’t always been easy, though. There are stereotypes to combat, and dismantling power structures will take a while.
“My neighbour laughed at me when he saw me sowing groundnut using the ‘token’ method (also called the dribbling method, where seeds are sown deep in the ground manually and the flow of water is designed to give optimum yield),” said Poonam Sonawane, another champion farmer. “He said, ‘Is this what champions do?’ I was embarrassed. I hope I prove him wrong.”
Whether at home or outside, the women still do not call the shots. They have spent nearly ₹15,000 on their farms, loaned to them by their husbands – and that, in a sense, makes them beholden. Asked how they would spend the income from their farms, many said it would be a decision they would take along with their husbands.
Still, there’s one thing they know for sure: they are on the right path. Apart from the learning, most of them said they wanted to bring more women into the fold.
