Successful Examples of Implementation of Government Schemes for Women

We listed out the schemes by the Government and Corporates targeted for upliftment of women in agriculture earlier in this post. In the following examples, they are the success stories of the Government schemes:

Implementation of MKSP by Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project has enabled women farmers in Bihar to procure seeds, food grains, and have access to the markets.

• This has been made possible through the setting up of Procurement Committees (Kharidari Committee) with women members responsible for sampling, bargaining, and procuring inputs on behalf of all members.
• Under the programme, training is arranged for members of the committee on seed technology, plantation techniques as well as market knowledge.
• Along with augmenting skills, confidence and bargaining power of women farmers, the initiative is also transforming gender and social relations in the community.

Enhancing the access to productive sources

• The State Poverty Eradication Mission was launched by Govt. of Kerala to improve livelihoods and food security of landless women through land leasing. The Kudumbashree intervention under the project involved setting up of women’s federations at village, block and district levels. Currently, the Kudumbashree initiative is supporting women farmers as a Project Implementation Agency (PIA) of MKSP.
• Members of grassroots organizations within the existing multi-tier structure were encouraged to take up lease land farming as individual and groups. Women who were interested in taking land on lease forwarded their applications to District Level Federations. Gram panchayats then mediated the terms between land owners and federations for procuring fallow land on a lease basis. The scale enabled women’s collectives to lease land on standardized rates between Rs 4000-8000 per acre depending on season and type of crop.
• After leasing land, women selected the crops to be grown in the leased land. They were also provided training by Kerala Agricultural University. Furthermore, the sale of produce was also facilitated by government of Kerala. Group based collective farming led by women fostered consensus building and peer learning amongst women. It also led to reduction of input costs.

Empowering women’s voice and agency through access to information

• ANANDI (Area Networking and Development Initiatives), is strengthening women collectives under MKSP in partnership with UN Women South Asia and Ministry of Rural Development by creating training modules.
• State Rural Livelihood Missions (in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh) are implementing gender and livelihoods training module developed by ANANDI and UN Women based on Participatory Action Learning Systems (PALS). This aims to enable women to collect, analyze, and use information to gain more control over their lives.