Income dream upsets male-female ratio

LUCKNOW: Here is a gender bender with a difference. One of the primary reasons why female foeticide and infanticide are prevalent is due to male preference and the supposed contribution of men as an extra productive hand adding to family income, particularly in the agriculture sector.
Contrary to popular belief, it is actually women who are responsible for 70-80 per cent of the agricultural activities in the state and yet their share in the agricultural produce is a dismal 12.9 per cent.Studies reveal that in the agricultural sector, women perform more agricultural activities than men.
A study by Tariq Rehman and Nivedita Mani of the Gorakpur Environmental Action Group to analyse the status of women''s participation in agriculture and extension services in eastern UP revealed that only six per cent of rural women had legal ownership of land. Joint ownership was also abysmal, a meagre 3 per cent, epitomising gender discrimination in the region.
Both men and women perform labour-intensive activities but men perform those related to machine and animals while women spend long hours in the field. A problem that is compounded by the time they need to devote to household chores and in meeting reproductive responsibilities.
At an all-India level as well it has been observed that agriculture employs 4/5th of all economically active women and there are 75 million women as against 15 million men engaged in dairy farming while animal husbandry engages 20 million women as against 1.5 million men.
In the two blocks of Gorakhpur-Campiereganj and Sardarnagar where this study was undertaken, it was discovered that extension services for the dissemination of useful information relating to agriculture like improved seeds, fertilisers, good farming practices, crop protection, innovations in technology, pest management etc also suffered from gender bias.
The government official who acts as a conduit between community at grassroot level and government is the multipurpose worker (MPW) entrusted with responsibility of delivering these extension services to farmers. Out of 141 MPW employed in Gorakhpur, there are no women MPWs.
A relatively new scheme of Kisan Mitras in which a qualified person assists farmers it was found that of the 250 Kisan Mitras, Sunita Devi was literally the solitary reaper and the only female representative. The report was submitted to principal secretary, agriculture, Shekhar Agarwal who agreed that the government needs to incorporate the demands of rural women and that he would send the report to UNDP co-ordinator, Seema Singh for consideration.